The Tigers look like the team of destiny in this postseason after little-used Alexis Gomez singled in two runs and delivered a two-run homer as a surprise starter in Wednesday night's Game 2 of the ALCS. Detroit is now up two games to none over Oakland. What is most startling about the Tigers claming five of six from the Yankees and A's is how they reversed a five-game losing streak that closed out the season. There's the saying that you can throw out the regular season when the playoffs begin, but how much consolation was that to manager Jim Leyland when the Tigers coughed up the American League Central crown by finishing with three straight losses to the Royals? Well, that saying seems especially true this October. The A's, for instance, despite having the best second-half record in the majors, lost six of their final nine regular-season contests before sweeping the Twins in the ALDS. The Cardinals nearly fumbled away a certain NL Central title with a seven-game losing streak from Sept. 20-26. A 3-9 finish didn't keep the Redbirds from eliminating San Diego in four games. By the way, the Padres had gone 9-2 prior to the start of the postseason. The Mets were 14-15 in September and weren't playing like a championship club. Their first-round opponent was the Dodgers, who were 37-19 over the final two months but couldn’t win a single playoff encounter in October. What does this all mean? You tell me. One thing is for sure: teams can hardly afford to lose two in a row or throw away a game. Mistakes become magnified and can be hard to overcome. A weeks-long string of success can be sabotaged by a couple of bad innings. The swing in team performance may be hard to explain, but it's provided some exciting postseason baseball.