The team that finished the regular season with the best record in the AL (New York) ran into problems in the first round against the club that made the playoffs via the Wild Card (Detroit) and the Tigers' resurgent season continued through the ALDS victory.

Chien-Ming Wang and the Yankees beat Nate Robertson and the Tigers at Yankee Stadium in Game 1 before Detroit rebounded to take the next three, including blowout wins in Games 3 and 4. Kenny Rogers threw seven scoreless innings in a Game 3 shutout victory.

Carlos Guillen went 8-for-14 in the series with three runs, three doubles, one homer and two RBIs. Sean Casey and Curtis Granderson combined to drive in nine.

Both Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada hit .500 for the Yankees (Jeter went 8-for-16 and Posada 7-for-14).

Path to the ALDS: Detroit (95-67) finished second in the AL Central and won the Wild Card; New York (97-65) won the AL East by 10 games 

Managers: Jim Leyland, DET; Joe Torre, NYY