At the time of writing, the MLB playoff wild card round is set to begin and with it, October baseball is finally here. The Cleveland Guardians have officially locked into the 2 seed in the American League with a record of 92-69 and due to this, they have secured a bye in the Wild Card round and will wait to see who they play until this week’s matchups finish. The Guardians have two potential matchups: the Houston Astros and the Detroit Tigers. Today, I will break down both teams listing key players, their records against the Guardians, and other key factors to ultimately decide who the more favorable match-up will be.

HOUSTON ASTROS

The Astros finished the 2024 MLB season with a record of 88-73 earning them the 3rd seed in the American League. Over the last 20 games, the Astros are 12-8 and have a record of 4-1 against the Cleveland Guardians. The Astros also feature many star players such as Yordan Alverez, Jose Altuve, Kyle Tucker, and Justin Verlander. There is no way around it, the Houston Astros are a good baseball team with plenty of depth to make a run at the World Series. Furthermore, this team has much more playoff experience than the Cleveland Guardians with multiple playoff berths and even a World Series win in the past few years. The Guardians will have to play some of their best baseball if they find themselves against the Astros come Saturday, but that is what October baseball is all about.

DETROIT TIGERS

The Tigers are an Americal League Central Division rival of the Cleveland Guardians and with it, both of these teams are familiar with each other. The Tigers finished the 2024 MLB season with a record of 86-76 earning them the 6th and final seed in the American League playoffs. Over the last 20 games, the Tigers have been a hot 15-5 with a 6-7 record against the Guardians. The Tigers’ Key players are Cy Young favorites; Tarik Skubal, Spencer Torkelson, and batting leader Kerry Carpenter. It is also of note that the Tigers have a strong bullpen behind their starting pitchers, much like the Guardians do. The Tigers have been the hottest team in baseball for some time now, in fact, they were sellers at the trade deadline and one point had just a 1% chance to even make the playoffs, and that’s what makes them scary.

SO WHO DO WE WANT?

So who do the Guardians want to play? I feel good about this Guardians team’s ability to make a run no matter who they face, but if I had to pick I would ultimately go with the Detroit Tigers. I know this may seem like the obvious answer, as they are the lower seed but they have been a very hot, very successful team since the all-star break which is scary but due to the familiarity the Guardians have with this team, and an overall winning record when facing the tigers, make them the more favorable option. That is not to say I don’t want to play the Astros, as I said before, I am confident in this team no matter who they play but if it comes down to it the Guardians are much more favorable in a 5 game series against the Detroit Tigers, though I expect them to advance to the ALCS no matter what.