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The Boston Red Sox will host the 3-game set Detroit Tigers at Fenway Park, the final contest of the 2025 Major League Baseball regular season, with both teams competing for spots in the playoffs.
Detroit once led American League Central in 14 games, but melted away in September and was tied up on the division on Friday, but will lose a tiebreaker against the Cleveland Guardian if the team finishes even numbers.
Boston has one magic number to secure the Al Wild Card Bertz, earning a postseason spot, winning one win over the Tigers and a Houston Astros defeat against the Los Angeles Angels. The Tigers will win the Astros one game leading the Astros on Friday to earn their final wild card spot, allowing them to clinch the postseason trip with a combination of two wins and two Astros losses over the weekend.
USA Today Sports will provide updates and highlights from the Tiger Thread Sox game on Friday night.
- Tigers – 3
- Red Sox – 1
Up to the sixth inning.
Tigers starting pitcher Casey Mize – the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 MLB draft by the Tigers – is important throughout six innings at Fenway Park. Mize allowed one run on 8 hits.
Meanwhile, the Texas Rangers are solidifying the Tigers and still lead the Cleveland Guardians 4-2 on progressive field.
The Tigers and Guardians entered the play on Friday night.
A two-run home run by Nathan Lukes at the bottom of the fifth inning gave the Rays a 4-2 lead as they tried to beat Al East.
In the Bronx, the Yankees continue to lead the Orioles 6-3 throughout five innings.
The Blue Jays and Yankees own the same 91-68 record that goes into Friday night’s game, while Toronto owns a head tiebreaker from true. The Blue Jays will be able to win the division title as early as Saturday.
The Red Sox answered after the Tigers scored their first run of the game and scored three points in the top of four innings.
Alex Bregman hit a ground rule double to lead the innings. Yoshida Island’s single won Bregman. However, a line-out to center with Romy Gonzalez and double play kept the Tigers at the top 3-1.
The Tigers scored three runs in four innings, chasing Red Sox starting pitcher Kyle Harrison in the process.
Dillon Dingler and Parker Meadows hit back-to-back singles after Andy Ibañez opened the innings on a walk. Javier Baes’ single won Ibañez. Jahai Jones is a double plated with Dingler and pasture. At that point, Red Sox manager Alex Cora looked well and pulled Harrison for right-handed Justin Slatin. Slaten inherited the runners second and third, earning two outs, but then walked through Wence el Pérez to load the base of the process. Right-handed Justin Sulatin concluded the innings and came to prevent further damage.
The New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays entered the play tied up on AL East on Friday night (although the Blue Jays own a tiebreaker).
Throughout the three innings, the Blue Jays are tied 2-2 with the Tampa Bay Rays.
At Yankee Stadium, New York took the Baltimore Orioles 6-3 with the third button. The Yankees won the playoff berth on Tuesday, September 23rd.
Yoshida opened the bottom of two innings to the right from the single. After Romy Gonzalez left and Sedanne Rafaela popped out, Nathaniel Lowe hit the ball and bounced off the top of the Green Monster for a double. However, with Yoshida third and Lowe in second place, Wire Abreu’s hard hit ball found the Tigers’ second basehand Graybar Torres, who first dumped Abreu.
The Tigers escaped the innings to keep the game scoreless.
The Texas Rangers opened the game at progressive field by scoring four runs in the first innings and leading the Cleveland Guardians 4-2 throughout one play.
The Guardians’ magic numbers for Al Central with the Tigers are three, and two magic numbers will secure a wildcard spot.
Tigers right fielder Wensel Perez made an epic play with a foul ball from the bat of the Red Sox Trevor Story.
It was determined that Perez did not complete the catch process. He fell into the stands and he lost his possessions as his gloves hit his seat.
The Tigers tried the play but failed. The lost challenges have had a playoff impact in this important game and have been able to get a big hit.
Friday’s match on Fenway Park will air only on Apple TV+, with the first pitch scheduled for 7:10pm ET.
Watch Red Sox vs. Tigers on Apple TV+
- Jarren Duran (L) LF
- Trevor Story(R)SS
- Alex Bregman (R) 3b
- Yoshida Masataka (L) DH
- Romy Gonzalez (R) 2b
- Rafaela (R) cf
- Nathaniel Lowe (L) 1b
- wilyer abreu(l)rf
- Carlos Narváez (R)c
Starting Pitcher: LHP Kyle Harrison
- Jahmai Jones (R)DH
- Gleyber Torres (R) 2b
- Wenceel Pérez (S) RF
- Spencer Torkelson (R) 1b
- Riley Green (L) LF
- Andy Ibáñez (R)3b
- Dillon Dangles c
- Parker Meadows (L) cf
- Javier Báez (R) SS
Starting Pitcher: RHP Casey Mize
Once you enter the game on Friday night, these will be playoff matchups.
Al Wild Card Series
Al Division Series
- Seattle Mariners (2) plays the winner of the Guardian Tigers
- Toronto Blue Jays (1) Plays the winner of the Yankees Red Sox
NL Wildcard Series
NL Division Series
The 12-team Major League Baseball Playoffs begin on Tuesday, September 30th, and can continue until November once the World Series advances to seven games.
Let’s take a look at the postseason schedule.
- Wild Card Series (Best 3): Tuesday, September 30th to Thursday, October 2nd*
- Division Series (Best 5): Saturday, October 4th to Saturday, October 11th**
- Championship Series (Best 7): Sunday, October 12th to Tuesday, October 21st**
- World Series (Best 7): Friday, October 24th to Saturday, November 1st**
*as needed
To air on Apple TV between Tigers and Red Sox on Fenway Park, Friday night, we present the first game footage taken directly from an iPhone camera.
From MLB: “The final Friday night baseball showdown on Apple TV+ will feature live game footage captured on the new iPhone 17 Pro. This is the first time the iPhone will be revealed during a live broadcast of a professional sporting event.”
Four iPhone 17 Pros will be installed at Fenway Park (including one among the Green Monsters) to capture the important late season clash with the meaning of the American League’s wildcard.
The willingness to expand the Major League Baseball playoffs was, of course, to generate gobs of television revenue thanks to television inventory. It also served a secondary purpose. It will create great relevance by September.
Ten of the 15 final three-game series have some degree of connection to either playoff qualifications or seed, with some direct matches affecting both teams. – Gabe Luck
