Tigers release Wild Card roster with surprising omission in preparation for Astros

On Tuesday, the Tigers are in Houston to play their first postseason game in almost exactly 10 years. Their ascent to the Wild Card was one of baseball's most thrilling stories coming down the stretch, and now AJ Hinch will face his former team in an attempt to turn the biggest underdogs of the playoff crop into champions again.

Rosters shrink back to 26 men for the postseason (with a max of 13 pitchers), so two Tigers had to be cut. After Sunday's game, Kenta Maeda seemed pretty confident that he wouldn't end up on the roster, so with him out of the picture, the Tigers just had to figure out one more guy to omit.

The team officially released their Wild Card roster a few hours ahead of Game 1. Maeda is indeed not on it, but there is a more surprising omission: Keider Montero, who we last saw for three innings on Sunday behind Maeda and Casey Mize. This means that the Tigers effectively only have three starters, but Hinch already warned us: Tarik Skubal will start Game 1, and the rest will be bedlam.

Tigers announce Wild Card roster, Game 1 lineup ahead of their first postseason game since 2014

Detroit quickly followed the complete roster with their Game 1 lineup. Skubal will start to get the Tigers off on the right foot against one of the most inevitable postseason teams baseball has ever seen. Matt Vierling, one of the Tigers' most tenured players who has a hot bat right now, will hit leadoff and play third base. A couple of other usual suspects are there as well: Riley Greene in left field and batting third; Spencer Torkelson at first base and batting sixth; and Parker Meadows playing center and batting seventh.

Colt Keith is the big omission from this first starting lineup, but if we know Hinch and the Tigers at all, we know that they'll probably shoot to keep opposing pitching on their toes by bringing in guys off the bench.

Wenceel Pérez, Justyn-Henry Malloy, and Trey Sweeney, all in the starting lineup today, were truly thrown straight into the fire this season. Pérez made his debut in April, Malloy in June, and Sweeney in August, but all three were contributors to the Tigers' meteoric August-September rise, and now they'll be tasked with stretching that into October. Jackson Jobe also made the roster in lieu of Montero, and he might be facing the biggest challenge of anyone after just being called up on Sept. 23.

A notable exclusion on the Astros roster: former Tiger Justin Verlander won't pitch against his former team during this series. Although a Verlander-Tigers postseason face-off would've been thrilling optically, it also wouldn't have given the Astros any advantage with how Verlander has been pitching as of late.

Game 1 will start at 2:32 PM EST and air on ABC. Today is a Skubal day, folks. This one's already starting in the Tigers' favor.