The
American
League Division Series (
ALDS), the
opening round of the 2006
American
League playoffs, began on Tuesday, October 3, and ended on
Saturday, October 7, with the champions of the three AL
divisions—along with a "
wild
card" team—participating in two best-of-five series. They
were:
The higher seed (in parentheses) had the home field advantage,
which was determined by playing record.
The Athletics and Tigers met in the
AL Championship
Series, where a Detroit sweep made the Tigers the American
League champions. The Tigers then faced the
St. Louis Cardinals
in the
2006 World Series, and
lost, four games to one, despite having home-field advantage.
Playoff race
The AL playoff race of 2006 was unusually dramatic, with the last
divisional championship and the wild card berth undecided until the
final day of the season, and the most unlikely of all of the AL's
playoff contenders taking the top spot in the AL Central and the
second seed.
In the
AL East, the
New York Yankees (97–65) clinched the
division when the
Boston Red Sox were
eliminated from the playoffs by the
Minnesota Twins (96–66) on September 20. The
Oakland Athletics (92–69) clinched
the
AL West on September 26, and in the
AL Central, the Twins won the division by
a single game over the Wild Card
Detroit
Tigers (95–67) after Detroit—who had led the division for the
entire season—lost their last five games. Minnesota had set a
torrid pace since June 7, after a horrible start. The Twins sewed
up their playoff berth with an 8–1 win over the
Kansas City Royals. They clinched the
Central Division title, their fourth in five years, with a 5–1
victory and a 10–8 Detroit loss to the Royals on the last day of
the season. The Twins' 96–66 mark is their best since the 98–64 AL
West Champion Twins of 1970.
Matchups
New York Yankees vs. Detroit Tigers
†: Game was postponed due to rain on October 4
Minnesota Twins vs. Oakland Athletics
New York vs. Detroit
Game 1, October 3
Yankee
Stadium 
in Bronx, New York
A five-run third inning by the Yankees put the game out of reach
for the Tigers.
Bobby Abreu doubled to
score
Johnny Damon and
Derek Jeter (who was 5-for-5).
Gary Sheffield then singled in Abreu, and
Jason Giambi launched a two-run home
run for a commanding 5–0 lead. In the fifth, the Tigers got on the
board with a solo home run from
Craig
Monroe, then scored two more runs to make a 5–3 Yankees, but
Chien-Ming Wang struck out
Magglio Ordóñez to end the inning.
The Yankees added to their lead with two runs in the sixth and a
home run from Jeter in the eighth. The Tigers only got one more
run, via a solo shot from
Curtis
Granderson.
Game 2, October 5
Yankee
Stadium in Bronx, New York
Game 2 was postponed for one day due to rain. In the second inning,
Marcus Thames doubled to bring home
Craig Monroe, giving the Tigers a 1–0
lead. In the fourth,
Johnny Damon
launched a three-run home run off
Justin Verlander to give the Yankees a 3–1
lead. That would be last time the Yankees would lead in the series
and score until Game 4.
Jamie Walker
(who earned the victory in relief) and
Joel
Zumaya shut the Yanks down for the rest of the game. The Tigers
clawed their way back in off
Mike
Mussina. In the fifth, a sacrifice fly from
Curtis Granderson scored Thames to the cut
the lead to one. Next inning,
Carlos
Guillén homered to tie the game and in the seventh, Granderson
tripled in Thames to give the Tigers a 4–3 lead. In the ninth,
Todd Jones earned the save by
getting Johnny Damon to fly out to center with one man on to end
the game and even the series.
Game 3, October 6
Comerica Park
in Detroit, Michigan
Feeding
off a crowd witnessing its first playoff game in nineteen years,
Detroit pitcher Kenny Rogers pitched innings of scoreless ball,
earning a victory and standing ovation from the Comerica Park crowd in a 6–0 Tigers win. Rogers was
throwing as hard as 92 mph in the eighth inning, topping usual top
speed by 3–4 mph. Joel Zumaya used his 103-mph arm to close out the
inning, and Todd Jones closed the game for the second time (but did
not earn a save, as the Tigers were not in a save situation).
Game 4, October 7
Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan
Detroit finished off New York behind another dominating pitching
performance, this time by Jeremy Bonderman in an 8–3 clinching win.
In the second inning,
Magglio
Ordóñez and
Craig Monroe homered
off
Jaret Wright to give the Tigers a
3–0 lead. After giving up an unearned run in the third, Wright was
replaced by
Cory Lidle, who ended the
inning without further damage, pitched a perfect fourth, but
allowed two runs in the fifth.
Brian
Bruney and
Scott Proctor each
allowed a Tigers run to put the game out of reach. Bonderman,
meanwhile, pitched a no-hitter through five innings.
Robinson Canó singled in the sixth for
the Yankees' first hit, but Bonderman prevented any further damage.
The Yankees ended their twenty-inning shutout streak with a
Hideki Matsui RBI. Bonderman left the
game in the ninth inning with one on and one out. Jamie Walker gave
up a two-run homer to
Jorge Posada in
the ninth before getting
Robinson
Canó to ground out to end the game and send the Tigers to the
2006 ALCS against the Oakland Athletics. The game is also notable
as Corey Lidle made his final appearance before his death in an
airplane crash a few days later, and for the final ALDS game
televised by FOX (due to the new TV contracts), at least for the
foreseeable future.
Composite box
2006 ALDS
(3–1): Detroit
Tigers over
New York
Yankees
Minnesota vs. Oakland
Game 1, October 3
Hubert
H.
Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota
The
A's came into the series as a
major underdog, and they had to face arguably the best pitcher in
the majors in
Johan Santana.
Also
working against Oakland, Minnesota's Metrodome is regarded as one of the toughest places to play
in all of baseball. Frank Thomas hit two home
runs, and
Barry Zito outdueled
Santana (though Zito got a major assist in the
eighth inning when, following a lead-off double,
Luis Castillo did not bunt in a clear bunting
situation) to give the A's a shocking Game 1 victory.
Game 2, October 4
Hubert
H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota
The A's followed their Game 1 victory with an even more shocking
victory in Game 2. An RBI double in the fifth inning by
A's short stop
Marco Scutaro scored
Nick Swisher to give the A's the lead, which
was followed by a single from
Jason
Kendall to score Scutaro. The
Twins would tie the game up in the sixth
inning off back-to-back home runs from
Michael Cuddyer and
Justin Morneau to chase Oakland starter
Esteban Loaiza. In the seventh, with
two out and Kendall on first base, Oakland's
Mark Kotsay hit a hard line drive to center
field.
Torii Hunter, an accomplished
defensive player, made an ill-considered dive for what should only
have been a single, but Hunter's dive allowed the ball to roll all
the way to the wall, allowing Kotsay to score for a two-run
inside-the-park home run,
and give the Athletics a commanding lead in the series.
Game 3, October 6
McAfee
Coliseum
in Oakland, California
The
A's have had a difficult time
in winning games when they have the opportunity to eliminate an
opponent in the postseason, leaving many to question if the team
would choke another time. All questions were answered when Oakland
scored twice in the second when
Eric
Chavez hit a home run and
Marco
Scutaro added another RBI double in the series. The A's added
two more runs in the third when
Mark
Kotsay scored on a home run by
Milton Bradley to deep center
field.
Scutaro would add insurance
runs for the A's in the seventh inning from a three-RBI double,
giving the A's a 8–2 lead and
Scutaro
his sixth RBI in three games as Oakland swept the
Twins with the 8–3 victory. This game was
also notable in that Twins pitcher Brad Radke made his final career
appearance.
Composite box
2006 ALDS
(3–0): Oakland
Athletics over
Minnesota
Twins
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