text: 2009 american league central tie - breaker game the 2009 american league central tie - breaker game was a one - game extension to major league baseball 's ( mlb ) 2009 regular season , played between the detroit tigers and minnesota twins to determine the champion of the american league 's ( al ) central division . it was played at the hubert h. humphrey metrodome in minneapolis , minnesota , on october 6 , 2009 . the twins won the game 6 – 5 in extra innings and advanced to the 2009 al division series where they were swept by the new york yankees ; the tigers failed to qualify for the postseason . a tie - breaker was necessary after both teams finished the season with identical win – loss records of 86 – 76 . the twins , who had won the regular season series against the tigers , 11 games to 7 , were thus awarded home field due to a rules change prior to the 2009 season . it was the third tie - breaker played in mlb from 2007 – 2009 . it was also the second consecutive tiebreaker for the al central title after 2008 , when the chicago white sox defeated the twins to win the division . in baseball statistics tie - breakers are counted as the 163rd regular season game played by both teams and all events in the game are added to regular season statistics . this was the twins ' final regular season game at the metrodome as the team moved to target field for the 2010 season . the tie - breaker was later named the best regular - season game of the decade by sports illustrated . background the tigers led the al central for periods at the start of the season in april , ultimately tying for the lead on may 10 and taking the lead outright on may 16 . the tigers held at least a share of the divisional lead from then onwards , holding their largest lead of 7 games on september 6 . although the tigers went 16 – 12 in september , their second - best month by winning percentage in 2009 , they won just 1 of 4 games in october . the twins went 16 – 11 and 4 – 0 , respectively , over this same stretch to tie the tigers for the divisional lead after the 162 - game regular season . more broadly , the tigers were 48 – 39 over the first half of the season while the twins were 45 – 44 but the twins came back in the second half going 41 – 32 leading up to the tie - breaker while the tigers went 38 – 37 over the same span . the twins won 11 of the two team 's 18 match - ups that season prior to the tie - breaker . this late season competition for the al central title included a 4 - game series between the two teams from september 29 to october 2 . the series , played at the tigers ' home field comerica park , started with a day - night doubleheader caused by a rainout the night before when the series was scheduled to start . the final game of the series featured moments of contention between the two teams . in the third inning , nate robertson hit denard span . minnesota starter scott baker hit marcus thames with a pitch the next inning . thames responded by sliding hard into second base to break up a potential double play that inning . twins ' reliever jose mijares then threw behind the tigers ' adam everett in the eighth inning . umpire angel hernandez warned mijares and the tigers bench , tigers ' manager jim leyland argued with hernandez , and he was ejected . despite the warning minnesota 's delmon young was hit in the knee with the first pitch in the ninth inning by jeremy bonderman . bonderman was immediately ejected as was tigers ' catcher gerald laird who argued with hernandez and the benches cleared , though there was no brawl . bonderman was suspended for three games , and tigers ' hitting coach lloyd mcclendon — who had been acting as manager following leyland 's ejection — was suspended for a game . mcclendon , leyland , and laird were all fined . ultimately , the four - game series was split with two wins for each team , and the tigers maintained a two - game lead with only three games remaining for each club . the tigers lost two of their next three games to the chicago white sox , whereas the twins swept the kansas city royals in a three - game set leaving both teams tied with an 86 – 76 record . a one - game playoff would decide the winner of the central division while the loser would be eliminated from playoff contention . prior to the 2009 season , home field advantage in a tiebreaker game was decided by a series of coin tosses held towards the end of the regular season that would decide the home teams of all possible one - game playoffs . a rule change following the 2008 season altered this process , leaving the site determined on a series of performance - based criteria beginning with the head - to - head record between the two teams that were tied . therefore , the twins took home - field advantage in this game , by virtue of winning the season series against the tigers 11 – 7 . the game was the third mlb tie - breaker in three seasons , a record number for the league . while october 5 had been the original scheduled date for a potential tiebreaker game , a conflict with a monday night football game between the green bay packers and minnesota vikings being played at the metrodome that night led to the baseball game being moved to the following day . game summary box score for tuesday , october 6 , 2009 — 4 : 08 p.m. ( ct ) at hubert h. humphrey metrodome in minneapolis , minnesota the game was scoreless through the first two innings . detroit took a three - run lead in the third inning which started when curtis granderson walked , advanced on a ground out , and scored on a single by magglio ordóñez to center field . ordóñez was then brought home via a two - run home run by tigers ' first baseman miguel cabrera . the twins responded in the bottom of the inning , with matt tolbert singling to lead off the inning , advancing to second base on a single by denard span , and then moving to third on a flyball out . tigers ' starter rick porcello attempted a pickoff throw to first which hit the baserunner span and went past the first baseman cabrera . span was out but tolbert was able to score on porcello 's throwing error . the score remained 3 – 1 until the bottom of the 6th inning . porcello got the first two batters of the inning out but then allowed a solo home run to jason kubel to bring the game within one run . porcello then walked the next batter , michael cuddyer , and was relieved by zach miner . the twins loaded the bases against miner , but did not score again in the inning . scott baker , the twins ' starter , walked the first batter of the 7th and was relieved by jon rauch though no runs scored . the twins took a 4 – 3 lead in the bottom of the 7th with a leadoff single by nick punto and a two - run home run by orlando cabrera . the tigers responded , tying the game at 4 with a home run by ordóñez in the top of the 8th off of matt guerrier . guerrier allowed another two walks in the inning and was relieved by closer joe nathan who escaped the inning with no further scoring . nathan remained in the game , holding the tigers scoreless in the 9th , while tigers ' closer fernando rodney did the same to minnesota to force extra innings . jesse crain replaced nathan in the top of the 10th and hit aubrey huff who was pinch hitting for wilkin ramirez . don kelly then pinch ran for huff , and scored on a double by brandon inge to give the tigers a 5 – 4 lead . the tigers inserted clete thomas for ordóñez in right field as a defensive replacement in the bottom of the 10th . however the twins the game at 5 – 5 as cuddyer led off the inning with a triple and , following a delmon young groundout and a walk to brendan harris , scored on a single by tolbert . alexi casilla pinch - ran for harris and advanced to third on tolbert 's single . nick punto then hit a fly ball to left - fielder ryan . casilla attempted to score on the play , but inadvertently inched off the base before the ball was caught , and had to return to the base before breaking for home . catcher gerald laird successfully tagged out casilla to complete the inning - ending double play . both teams were held scoreless in the 11th . the tigers threatened to score in the top of the 12th , with a walk by cabrera and a single by kelly with one out . twins pitcher bobby keppel then intentionally walked to load the bases , hoping he could induce a double play . then , keppel threw a fastball close to batter brandon inge with his first pitch . inge believed he was hit by the ball and should advance to first , which would force a go - ahead run to score with the bases loaded , but home plate umpire randy marsh ruled the pitch did not hit inge and allowed the at - bat to continue . tigers ' manager jim leyland would say later that " the replay kind of confirms that it did hit him , " but marsh maintained that replays were " inconclusive . " inge ultimately grounded into a force out at home and laird would strikeout to close the top of the inning with no scoring . carlos gómez led off the bottom of the 12th with a single for the twins and advanced to second on a ground - out . with first base open , the tigers intentionally walked delmon young to bring up casilla . casilla atoned for his earlier base - running blunder by hitting a ground ball through the right side of the infield . the base hit allowed the speedy gomez to score from second without a play , thus giving the twins a 6 – 5 walk - off victory . aftermath the tie - breaker win clinched the american league central for the twins and earned them a spot in the 2009 al division series ( alds ) against the new york yankees . they were swept , losing the alds in three games . the tigers became the first team in mlb history to have a three - game division lead with four games remaining and lose the division . mlb tie - breaker games count as regular season games and this game affected certain statistical races for the 2009 season . for example , jason beck of mlb.com noted that if the umpire agreed with brandon inge on the contentious 12th inning call inge would have tied for the most hit by a pitch in the american league . twins ' catcher joe mauer won the 2009 american league batting title , and his final batting average for the season moved from .364 to .365 in the game . the game was later chosen by sports illustrated as the best regular - season game of the decade .