It’s taken me about 22 hours to regain my regular heart rate but I think I’ve finally settled down.

Was Game 5 the best Tigers game I’ve ever seen? I keep asking myself and I couldn’t decide, mainly because the competition features games with different circumstances and consequences:

1984 ALCS Game 3

• Scenario: Tigers ahead of Royals 2-0 in best-of-five
• At Stake: Trip to World Series
• Result: 1-0 win

1987 Final Weekend

• Scenario: Tigers enter weekend one game behind the Blue Jays
• Tigers take two of three, force one-game playoff
• Blue Jays take two of three, they win A.L. East
• Tigers sweep gives them division title
• At Stake: A.L. East Title
• Result: Tigers sweep

2006 ALCS Game 4

• Scenario: Tigers ahead of A’s 3-0 in best of seven
• At Stake: Trip to World Series
• Result: 6-3 win

But then it was an easy choice. In all these other games the Tigers had room for error. Not Thursday night – or any game in the series. So, yep. This ALDS was the most grueling – and gratifying – set of games I’ve ever experienced in my Tigers-following life.

Other leftovers …

• Remember when the Tigers acquired Doug Fister and led us to believe he’d be the fifth starter? If Fister’s the fifth man in the rotation, where does that put Brad Penny? Eighth? Truth is, Dave Dombrowski probably never thought of Fister anything less than what he’s proven himself to be: a number-two starter with ace-ish ability – and he proved it with gusto on Thursday night.

• Here’s something about this five-game series that I’ve never experienced before: the difficulty I had enjoying the game as it was being played. Every pitch seemed to have so much hanging on it I resigned myself to studying the box score to get a reality check on a player’s performance. This was the case with Fister. As I watched Game 5, it sure seemed like he was throwing a gem — and lo and behold, he was: five innings pitched, five hits, one earned run, four strikeouts and just two walks.

• And how about Magglio Ordonez? He hit .455 in the ALDS after going two for three in Game 5. Jim Leyland sure seems to be in perfect sync with Magglio, when to play him, when to give him a day off. With a couple of lefties on the horizon in the ALCS, I’m thinking we’ll see more Magglio rather than less.

• If you can stand to watch (and I don’t recommend it), Around the Horn looks at Game 5 through the prism of “Praise the Tigers or Blame the Yankees?”

• The Los Angeles Times’ Bill Plaschke uses the Tigers’ champagne celebration to make the point that revelry after winning a first-round series is more than a little over the top.

On the field, the Detroit Tigers did what tough baseball teams do, defeating the New York Yankees, 3-2, in a deciding Game 5 to win the American League Division Series at Yankee Stadium.

Off the field, the Detroit Tigers then did what all silly baseball teams do, celebrating the series victory with a raucous, over-the-top champagne party that was far greater than the entirety of their achievement.

Three wins. They were throwing a New Year’s Eve party for three wins. Think about that.

They were spraying each other over wins that could have occurred over the course of a long summer weekend. They were pouring it on each other for wins that totaled less than 12 hours.

The Detroit Tigers just played three good games, yet felt it necessary to celebrate with countless cases of liquor and cigars, and it just makes no sense.

It isn’t just the Tigers who do this, of course, it’s every baseball team after every postseason series win, the constantly popping corks adding to baseball’s reputation as a big fraternity house while diminishing the parties that really matter.

• What do you think? I agree that in general watching four champagne celebrations is a bit much … when it’s not your team doing it. Here’s hoping we see another one in the next week or so.

And with that, adios, New York. Hello, Arlington.

ESPN highlights available here.

The Score: Tigers 3 – Yankees 2

The Gist: Jim Leyland’s bet on Don Kelly paid immediate dividends as Kelly gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead two batters into the game. Three batters in, Delmon Young gave Doug Fister a 2-0 cushion before he threw a pitch. Fister was terrific, as was Max Scherzer who gave the Tigers 1-1/3 innings of relief. Victor Martinez gave the Tigers a 3-0 lead when he drove in Austin Jackson in the sixth. Joaquin Benoit got five huge outs, walked in a run and withstood some head games played by Joe Girardi. Jose Valverde threw a Mariano Rivera-type ninth inning, setting down Curtis Granderson, Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriquez in order for his 51st save of the year.

The Quote: “He’s the 25th guy on the team, I guess, but I wouldn’t rather have another 25th guy.” – Leyland on Kelly

The Stat: 3 – Delmon Young‘s home run total for the series, the most ever by a Tigers player in a single postseason series.

The Stat II: 13 – The number of strikeouts by Tigers hitters in Game 5

Up Next: American League Championship Series

Saturday: Tigers @ Rangers in Arlington | Start Time TBD | On the air: Fox/AM 1270 and 97.1 FM

Justin Verlander vs. C.J. Wilson

Follow The Daily Fungo on Twitter: @DailyFungo

Here we are, a couple of hours from the most nerve-wracking Tigers game since Game 163 and the club’s first winner-take-all game since the 1972 ALCS, as Lee Panas pointed out after Game 4. Let’s see what happens. (Not unlike to my approach to this post.)

Jim Leyland this afternoon explained why we’ll see Max Scherzer and not Justin Verlander should the Tigers need a long-man:

“I don’t think it’s a wise decision. Like I said, those innings he pitched the other night, all the innings he’s piled up this year, all the strikeouts, all the adrenaline, and the fact that he’s throwing 100 miles an hour in the eighth inning [on Monday night], if he comes in this game tonight, there’s no telling what he would be throwing with the way this crowd is going to be and everything. I just don’t think it makes sense.”

Tonight’s game marks the seventh time in the Tigers post-season history they’ve had a series go the maximum number of games. Detroit has compiled a 2-4 record in the previous six series.

• Wins: Game 7 of the 1945 and 1968 World Series
• Losses: Game 7 of the 1909, 1934 and 1940 World Series; Game 5 of the 1972 ALCS

Jerry Crasnick focuses on Doug Fister and Delmon Young in this ESPN.com story. Here’s one scout’s view on Fister:

“The gun doesn’t tell the story on him,” the scout said. “He’s a movement guy with good location, and velocity doesn’t matter that much. He’s so tall [6-foot-8] and he’s straight over the top, so he gets great ‘down’ plane. When he’s down in the zone, it’s like hitting a bowling ball.”

By the by, Fister surrendered five home runs over his final 19 outings of the season dating back to June 14, a stretch of 129 innings pitched. He allowed 0.46 home runs per nine innings this season, lowest in the American League.

On this date in 1945, a goat and its owner make an appearance at Wrigley Field for Game 4 of the World Series between the Tigers and Cubs. The pair is told to leave before the game ends, angering the owner (and presumably the goat). The Cubs lost to the Tigers, 4-1. The Tigers go on to win the Series in seven and the Cubs won’t win another National League championship for the rest of the 20th century. And thus was born the Curse of the Billy Goat.

Young’s two home runs during this ALDS matches a Tigers record. Both Curtis Granderson and Craig Monroe hit two home runs for Detroit during the ALDS in 2006.

That’s all I’ve got. Except for this: Tigers 5 Yankees 2.

Enjoy the game.

For your consideration:

The last time the Tigers lost a postseason game by the score of 10-1, it also came in a Game 4 – of the 1968 World Series. The Tigers won Game 5 at Tiger Stadium, 5-3, behind Mickey Lolich.

They also won Games 6 and 7, in case you’d forgotten.

In Game 1 of the 1945 World Series, the Tigers were defeated, as they were Tuesday night, by nine runs. In Game 2, Virgil Trucks beat the Cubs 4-1.

Just sayin’.

Rosenthal: DET/NYY Game 5 Preview