The Detroit Tigers will face the Houston Astros in the AL Wild Card Series

Detroit — They are heading towards Houston.

The Tigers and Astros will meet in the first round of the Major League Baseball playoffs, following the Tigers’ 9-5 loss to the Chicago White Sox in the regular-season finale Sunday at Comerica Park.

The best-of-three series begins Tuesday and continues Wednesday and, if necessary, Thursday. All games will be played in Houston, and the only way the Tigers can get a home playoff game this year is to advance to the second round, as part of the expanded playoff format launching in 2022.

This series is a reunion between Tigers manager AJ Hinch and the team he led to the 2017 World Series championship, albeit a tainted one. Hinch was fired amid fallout from the Houston sign-stealing scandal and was suspended by MLB for a year. The Tigers hired him at the end of the 2020 World Series, once Hinch’s suspension was lifted.

It’s also, of course, a reunion between the Tigers and their former ace, Justin Verlander, who played in two World Series in Detroit and won two in Houston. Verlander spent his first 13 years in Detroit.

Verlander’s role in the playoffs is a bit unclear, given a rough season at age 41. The first game will feature Cy Young lock Tarik Skubal of the Tigers against Framber Valdez of the Astros. The Astros and Tigers played a series in Detroit in May and Houston in June, with the Astros winning two of three games each time. Skubal beat them in May and lost to them in June.

The Astros (88-73) are in the playoffs for an eighth straight year and have won the AL West for the seventh time in that span. The Tigers (86-76) ended a decade-long playoff drought with a stunning surge in the final two months of the season.

The winner of this series will meet the AL Central champion Cleveland Guardians in the AL Division Series.

Game times and television schedules were still to be determined early Sunday evening.

This is a developing story. Check back for more updates.

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