Here are the 26 players on the Detroit Tigers’ first-round playoff roster

DETROIT – The Detroit Tigers announced their 26-man roster for the first round of the playoffs.

The first game of the best-of-seven round begins Tuesday at 2:32 p.m., when the Tigers face the Astros in Houston.

AJ Hinch and Scott Harris had to make some difficult decisions, reducing the squad to 26 players after all 28 players played throughout September.

The way Hinch uses his bats in the bullpen and in the dugout makes every spot in the lineup important.

Teams can place as many as 13 pitchers on their playoff roster, but since the wild-card round has a maximum of three games, it’s no surprise that the Tigers used an extra bat to potentially give themselves a late-game advantage.

Here are the position players who made the squad: :

• Catcher Jake Rogers.

• Catcher Dillon Dingler.

• First baseman Spencer Torkelson.

• Second baseman Colt Keith.

• Third baseman Jace Jung.

• Trey Sweeney stop.

• Midfielder Zach McKinstry.

• Midfielder Andy Ibanez.

• Infielder/outfielder Matt Vierling.

• Outfielder Riley Greene.

• Outfielder Parker Meadows.

• Outfielder Wenceel Perez.

• Designated hitter/outfielder Kerry Carpenter.

• Designated hitter Justyn-Henry Malloy.

Here are the pitchers who made the lineup: :

• Tarik Skubal.

• Reese Olson.

• Tyler Holton.

• Casey Mize.

• Villa Vesta.

• Jason Foley.

• Beau Brieske.

• Brant Hurter.

• Sean Guenther.

• Brenan Hanifee.

• Jackson Jobe.

• You Madden.

Notable omissions

The position of the players in the squad is more or less what we all expected. The Tigers have won 31 of 42 games with their young players, so why change now?

The decision to leave Kenta Maeda out of the lineup couldn’t have been a difficult one after he was unable to face even the worst team in MLB history on Sunday.

He’s been feeling a bit better since moving to the bullpen, but overall it was a disastrous season and even his previous playoff experience with the Los Angeles Dodgers couldn’t save him.

Fans may reflect on Keider Montero’s complete shutdown a few weeks ago and wonder, “How do I get this guy out of the lineup?”

Well, Montero has been really inconsistent at the MLB level and has been mostly poor in recent games. His stats suggest he’s lucky to have an ERA of even 4.76, and Hinch probably doesn’t want him facing lefties like Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker.