The 1987 American League Championship Series pitted the Minnesota Twins, the American League West champions, against the Detroit Tigers, the American League East champions. Minnesota won the Series four games to one, en route to winning the 1987 World Series four games to three over the St. Louis Cardinals. Background The Detroit Tigers finished the 1987 regular season with the best record in all of baseball, at 98–64 (.605). They won the American League East by two games in thrilling fashion over the Toronto Blue Jays, overcoming a 3½-game deficit with a week to go, and clinching the division—and their second postseason appearance in four years—on the last day of the season with a 1–0 win over Toronto at Tiger Stadium. The Twins, by contrast, finished with the worst record of any of the four teams that made the playoffs, at 85–77 (.525). Although they held off the Kansas City Royals by two games to take the American League West, they were clearly seen as the underdogs against the power of the Tigers in the 1987 ALCS. The Twins would go on to win the first of two World Championships in the next four years. As for Detroit, after their elimination in this series, the Tigers would not see the playoffs again for 19 years, when they won the American League pennant in 2006. Summary Minnesota Twins vs. Detroit Tigers Game summaries Game 1 Wednesday, October 7, 1987, at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota The 1987 AL playoffs opened at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, with the Tigers throwing Doyle Alexander against the Twins' Frank Viola. In the bottom of the second, the Twins opened the scoring when third baseman Gary Gaetti homered off Alexander to give Minnesota a 1–0 lead. However, Detroit answered back the very next half-inning, as catcher Mike Heath homered to center field to tie the game. The game remained tied until the bottom of the fifth, when the Twins erupted for three runs. Gaetti led off the inning with his second round-tripper of the game, and Randy Bush followed by stroking a triple to right field and coming home on a double by Tom Brunansky. Steve Lombardozzi sacrificed Brunansky to third, and he scored on a subsequent base hit by Dan Gladden to make it 4–1. Beginning in the top half of the sixth, however, Detroit staged a comeback. Kirk Gibson hit a