Playoff Destination Remains Up In The Air

"Pack your suitcases and hope that you can take them home after the game."

Those were the instructions Detroit players received after the Tigers beat Cleveland 9-6 Tuesday in the next-to-last game of the regular season.

The Tigers will report to work  Wednesday not knowing whether they are going to New York to play the Yankees in the opening round of the playoffs or staying home to play either of the two AL wild-card possibilities.

If Detroit (94-67) finishes tied with Texas (95-66), it wins the tiebreaker (head-to-head season series, won by the Tigers 6-3) and stays home to face Boston or Tampa Bay.

If the Rangers edge the Tigers, Detroit goes to New York. There will be some serious scoreboard-watching Wednesday night with the Texas game starting after Detroit's.

The person this is the toughest on is the Tigers' traveling secretary. Tyson Steele is the guy in charge of making travel arrangements ... planes (the Red Wings and Tigers share one), hotels, meal money for players, game tickets, and a myriad of other things such as booking buses from hotels to the stadium for players and team officials.

Often he has to book two cities at once when destinations are up in the air, unbooking one when the mystery is solved. And when it's playoff time, he checks the team out of the hotel even knowing he might have to rebook when each series gets down to those "if necessary" games.

It looks easy when you turn on your radio or television set, but there are a lot of details to be taken care of to make it happen.

"We're just excited to be in it," right-hander Max Scherzer said, a sentiment echoed by nearly all of Detroit's players and coaches, a mantra that comes down from manager Jim Leyland. "You don't give a lot of thought to where you're pitching. You think about who you're pitching against."

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