Jeremy Bonderman

Early offense led Jeremy Bonderman, who helped the Tigers earn a meeting with the A's in the ALCS. The team that couldn't beat the Royals in three tries to win the American League Central overwhelmed the Yankees to win its AL Division Series instead. While Jeremy Bonderman retired the first 15 batters he faced, Craig Monroe's two-run homer propelled Detroit to its largest offensive attack of the series, sending the Tigers to an 8-3 victory on Saturday night and their first postseason series victory since the 1984 World Series.

Though Bonderman won 14 games and produced the first 200-strikeout season in 19 years from a Detroit pitcher, he was the true wild card in the AL Wild Card's blueprint for beating the Bronx Bombers. He lasted 8 1/3 innings, surrendering two runs on five hits. A Magglio Ordonez solo homer and Monroe's two-run shot down the left-field line paced a three-run second inning before Ivan Rodriguez's RBI single knocked out New York starter Jaret Wright in the third.
Four straight hits off Cory Lidle leading off the bottom of the sixth, including an Ordonez run-scoring single and Carlos Guillen's RBI double, sent the Tigers rolling and a sellout crowd of 43,126 into anticipation.