The Detroit Tigers clinched an AL wild-card spot on Friday night, ending a decade-long postseason drought.

Detroit secured a spot in the playoffs with a 4-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox set a modern major league record with their 121st defeat.

The Tigers were on a roll, winning six straight and 10 of 11, storming into the playoffs and eliminating the reigning AL Central champion Minnesota Twins from contention.

Since Aug. 11, when Detroit was eight games under .500 and out of contention, it has been the hottest team in the majors with 31 wins in 42 games, with the lowest ERA in baseball and the largest run differential.

AL Cy Young Award favorite Tarik Skubal leads Detroit’s rotation and Jason Foley has emerged as a reliable closer in a strong bullpen.

Riley Greene, an All-Star outfielder, is the team’s best player in a lineup that hits on time from top to bottom.

Detroit took advantage of playing against a historically bad team and broke a scoreless tie in the fifth inning on Friday night. Jake Rogers scored when Jared Shuster was attacked with a wild pitch, although the ball did not touch the ground just under catcher Korey Lee’s glove.

Greene gave Detroit a 3-1 lead with a double in the seventh, and Chicago helped the home team again later in the inning when Fraser Ellard threw the team’s third wild pitch of the night.

Detroit entered the season expecting to compete for a playoff spot in a second full season under president of basketball operations Scott Harris and fourth-year manager AJ Hinch.

The Tigers started strong, winning six of their first seven games. They had a winning record until mid-May, when the team began to slip in the standings.

They appeared to be out of pitching in late July when Kenta Maeda was demoted to the bullpen, Casey Mize and Reese Olson were injured, and Jack Flaherty was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Every time it looked like the Tigers would rebound, they failed to find consistent success and many fans in the state turned their attention to football.

Hinch got creative, rotating with Skubal and rookie Keider Montero while relying on the bullpen to pitch entire games like the series opener against the White Sox in front of 44,435 fans at Comerica Park.

Skubal and Montero have gone a combined 11-3 since August 1, but only one other starting pitcher has won a game, and that was Brant Hurter against the Los Angeles Angels a month ago.

The Motor City’s baseball team salvaged the season and revived interest after finishing previous seasons in a mostly empty ballpark and drawing large crowds.