Tigers Win Tiebreaker With Giants, Land Top Pick in 2018 MLB Draft

The Giants entered the final day of the 2017 regular season with a one-game lead over the Tigers in the race for the worst record in baseball and the top pick in the 2018 MLB Draft.

To get the top pick, the Giants needed to lose or have the Tigers win. Neither of those things happened on Sunday, thanks to Pablo Sandoval and the Minnesota Twins.

At exactly 3pm PT, Sandoval hit a walk-off home run to push the Giants' final record to 64-98. At that point, attention shifted to the Tigers and Twins.

But at 3:27pm PT, former Giant Ehire Adrianza caught a fly ball for the final out of the Twins' 5-1 win over the Tigers, meaning Detroit finished with the exact same 64-98 record as the Giants.

The tiebreaker? The team with the worse record in 2016. And there was almost a tie there as well. Last year, the Giants (87-75) finished a half-game better than the Tigers (86-75).  Detroit played one fewer game than the Giants because they had a game rained out. They didn't make it up on the Monday following the season because it wouldn't have factored into the playoff standings.

So, instead of the Giants, the Tigers are on the clock for the 2018 MLB Draft, which will be held early next June.

Some notable players expected to be in play for the top overall pick are high school RHP Ethan Hankins, high school SS Brice Turang, high school third baseman Nolan Gorman, Florida RHP Brady Singer, Oregon State infielder Nick Madrigal and South Florida LHP Shane McClanahan.

The Giants and Tigers are five years removed from facing each other in the 2012 World Series.

Here is the order for the first round of the 2018 MLB Draft, according to MLB.com:
1. Tigers
2. Giants
3. Phillies
4. White Sox
5. Reds
6. Mets
7. Padres
8. Braves
9. Athletics
10. Pirates
11. Orioles
12. Blue Jays
13. Marlins
14. Mariners
15. Rangers
16. Rays
17. Angels
18. Royals
19. Cardinals
20. Twins
21. Brewers
22. Rockies
23. Yankees
24. Cubs
25. D-backs
26. Red Sox
27. Nationals
28. Astros
29. Indians
30. Dodgers

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