In the AL East, the New York Yankees (97–65) clinched the division when the Boston Red Sox were eliminated from the playoffs by the Minnesota Twins (96–66) on September 20.

In the fifth, Thames hit a leadoff double, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a sacrifice fly from Curtis Granderson to cut the lead to one.

Next inning, Carlos Guillén homered to tie the game and in the seventh, Thames hit a leadoff single, moved to second on a passed ball, then to third on a sacrifice bunt before scoring on Granderson's triple to give the Tigers a 4–3 lead.

In the ninth, Todd Jones earned the save by getting Johnny Damon to fly out to center with one man on to end the game and even the series.

Offensively, the Tigers got on the board off Randy Johnson in the second on three straight leadoff singles, the last of which by Sean Casey scoring Carlos Guillén.

In the second inning, Magglio Ordóñez hit a leadoff home run and after Iván Rodríguez walked with one out, Craig Monroe homered off Jaret Wright to give the Tigers a 3–0 lead.

Wright was replaced by Cory Lidle, who ended the inning without further damage and pitched a perfect fourth, but in the fifth, allowed three consecutive leadoff singles, the last of which to Ordóñez scoring a run.

Next inning, Scott Proctor allowed a two-out single to Plácido Polanco, who scored on Sean Casey's double to make it 8−0 Tigers.

Jamie Walker gave up a two-out, two-run homer to Jorge Posada in the ninth before getting Robinson Canó to ground out to end the game and send the Tigers to the 2006 ALCS against the Oakland Athletics.

2006 ALDS (3–1): Detroit Tigers over New York Yankees Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota The A's struck first in Game 1 on Frank Thomas's leadoff home run in the second off Twins' ace Johan Santana.

Back-to-back home runs by Michael Cuddyer and Justin Morneau leading off the bottom of the sixth off Esteban Loaiza tied the game.

They added another run in the ninth when Swisher hit a leadoff double off Juan Rincón, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch by Joe Nathan.

McAfee Coliseum in Oakland, California The A's struck first in the bottom of the second on Eric Chavez's one-out home run off Brad Radke, who would retire following the series.

Morneau's home run in the eighth off Justin Duchscherer made it 8–3 A's, but Huston Street pitched a scoreless ninth as the A's won their first postseason series since the 1990 ALCS.