DETROIT -- A year ago around this time, as Miguel Cabrera closed out his playing career in front of a sellout crowd at Comerica Park, a few of the younger Tigers soaked in the atmosphere and passion and wondered aloud if they could bring that kind of crowd back for the team if they won. On Friday, they got it, and delivered.

While Brenan Hanifee and Brant Hurter led another procession of pitching through the White Sox lineup, a two-run fifth inning powered by Matt Vierling’s sacrifice fly and Jake Rogers’ dash home on a wild pitch put Detroit in front before Riley Greene’s RBI double put them in command for a 4-1 win before a crowd of 44,435. The Tigers’ sixth straight victory clinched their first postseason berth in 10 years, tied with the Angels for the longest playoff drought in the Majors.

The Tigers are guaranteed one of the American League Wild Card spots.

While the final home weekend of the regular season usually draws a crowd at Comerica Park, as fans get one more glimpse of baseball before the Michigan chill sets in, this was different. Tickets for the final weekend began flying once the Tigers moved past the Twins and into position for a Wild Card spot last Sunday. The crowds have been building ever since.

Friday was the crescendo, with fans eager for a first-hand view of the end to the Tigers’ playoff drought, the official transition from Tigers youth movement to Tigers contender. Much like Tigers hitters with White Sox starter Garrett Crochet, they had to wait.

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Crochet shut down Detroit for four innings in his final start of the season, but the Tigers pounced as soon as he left, loading the bases with two walks and a Parker Meadows bloop single off lefty reliever Jared Shuster, whose pitch through catcher Korey Lee’s legs sent Rogers home with the first run. Vierling, who scored the go-ahead run on a sac fly Thursday against Tampa Bay, returned the favor to plate Meadows.

From that moment, Tigers fans were counting the outs, even after Zach DeLoach’s solo homer brought the White Sox within a run. They chanted Greene’s name when he stepped to the plate with two on in the seventh, and roared when he lined the first pitch he saw from southpaw Fraser Ellard off the center-field fence to score Andy Ibáñez. Vierling walked, moved to third on Greene’s double, then scored on a wild pitch for an insurance tally.

From there, the only negative rumble from the Detroit faithful came when the Tigers announced that postgame fireworks were cancelled due to high winds. The way the evening unfolded, they didn’t need them.

From the final outs to the glimpses at the Royals and Twins scores on the out-of-town scoreboard, to a raucous rendition of “Don’t Stop Believin’” in the middle of the eighth inning, this was a celebration and a release, a reward for patience through a rebuild that brought the Tigers from the veteran-laden roster of seven years ago to the emerging young stars of today.