If the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Guardians had been going toe-to-toe for the lead in American League Central all season long, this would be viewed as a fun division race between two scrappy-if-flawed teams.
But timing is everything -- and that's not how each team's wins and losses unfolded.
Instead, we get the much more intriguing storyline of the Guardians surging to a miracle comeback to make the playoffs and the Tigers trying to avoid an epic collapse.
In early July, after the Tigers swept the Guardians, Cleveland trailed Detroit by 15½ games in the division race.