| Alds: | yes |
| Year: | 2012 |
| Champion1: | New York Yankees (3) |
| Champion1 Games: | 95–67,, GA: 2 |
| Runnerup1: | Baltimore Orioles (2) |
| Runnerup1 Games: | 93–69,, GB: 2 |
| Runnerup2: | Oakland Athletics (2) |
| Runnerup2 Games: | 94–68,, GA: 1 |
| Champion2: | Detroit Tigers (3) |
| Champion2 Games: | 88–74,, GA: 3 |
| Date1: | October 7–12 |
| Date2: | October 6–11 |
| Television2: | TBS (Games 1, 3) MLB Network (Game 2) TNT (Games 4–5) |
| Announcers2: | Don Orsillo and Buck Martinez (TBS/TNT) Matt Vasgersian and Jim Kaat (MLBN) |
| Wc: | Baltimore Orioles defeated Texas Rangers, 5–1 |
The 2012 American League Division Series were two best-of-five-game series to determine the participating teams in the 2012 American League Championship Series. The three divisional winners and a fourth team—the winner of a one-game Wild Card playoff— played in two series. TBS carried most of the games, with some on MLB Network or TNT.
The series used the 2–3 format for 2012 because on March 2 the league had implemented the new "wild card" playoff, eliminating the travel day between Games 4 and 5.[1] The 2–3 format was used for best-of-five Championship Series rounds prior to 1985 and for the Division Series rounds from 1995 to 1997. The matchups for the 2012 ALDS were:
This was the third postseason match-up between the Athletics and the Tigers, and previously the Tigers had defeated the A's 4–0 in the 2006 ALCS. The Yankees and Orioles were meeting in the postseason for the second time; the Yankees had beaten the Orioles 4–1 in the 1996 ALCS, which witnessed the controversial Jeffrey Maier incident in Game 1.
The Tigers went on to defeat the Yankees in the ALCS, then lose the 2012 World Series to the National League champion San Francisco Giants.
Coco Crisp led off the game with a home run on Justin Verlander's fourth pitch, a 1–2 fastball. Verlander threw 26 pitches in the first inning, but he managed to only allow one run. The lead did not last long, as Austin Jackson doubled to lead off the bottom of the first, and moved to third on an infield hit by Quintin Berry. Miguel Cabrera followed with a double play grounder, with Jackson scoring on the play. In the bottom of the third, with the game tied at one, Quintin Berry hit a slow ground ball up the first-base line. A's starter Jarrod Parker fielded the ball, but it rolled out of his glove for an error. That allowed Omar Infante, who doubled earlier in the inning, to score from second base and give the Tigers a 2–1 lead. Alex Avila led off the fifth inning with a first-pitch homer to extend the Detroit lead to 3–1. In the top of the seventh, Verlander struck out Derek Norris to tie a playoff career-high in strikeouts with 11, which he set the prior year in Game 3 of the ALDS against the Yankees, which he won. In the bottom of the seventh, with two runners on, Pat Neshek, pitching for the first time since the death of his one-day-old son, got out of the jam by getting Infante to ground into a force out and striking out Austin Jackson. In the top of the eighth, Brandon Moss came close to a game-tying two-run home run off Joaquín Benoit, but fell just short when the ball held up at the right-field wall for Andy Dirks, who made the catch. José Valverde pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his first save of the 2012 postseason. He struck out two and got George Kottaras to pop up to end the game.
With the series on the line, the teams turned to their Game 1 starters—Justin Verlander for the Tigers and Jarrod Parker for the A's. As he had done so many times after a Tiger loss over the last few seasons, Verlander was the Tigers' stopper. The 2011 Cy Young and MVP winner allowed just four hits and a walk in a complete-game shutout, and only one Oakland baserunner made it as far as second base (Josh Donaldson in the eighth). Verlander also struck out 11 batters for the second time in the series, giving him an ALDS record of 22 K's.[3] The Tiger batters did all of their scoring in just two innings. Omar Infante led off the third inning with a single, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and scored on an Austin Jackson double. Jackson advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Quintin Berry and scored on Parker's second wild pitch of the inning. In the top of the seventh, Jhonny Peralta led off with a single and stole second. One out later, Omar Infante singled to send Peralta to third, and Austin Jackson knocked in Peralta with a single off A's reliever Ryan Cook. Quintin Berry drew a walk to load the bases before Cook hit Miguel Cabrera with an 0–2 pitch to force in the Tigers' fourth run of the game. Prince Fielder followed with a run-scoring single off reliever Jerry Blevins, and Stephen Drew's error on a hard grounder by Delmon Young allowed Berry to score the sixth and final run of the game. The Tigers would move on to the ALCS for the second straight season.
This series was an inversion of the 1972 American League Championship Series between the same clubs. In that series. the Athletics won the first two games at Oakland, the Tigers won the next two at Detroit, but the Athletics won the deciding Game 5 2–1 at Tiger Stadium.
2012 ALDS (3–2): Detroit Tigers over Oakland Athletics