High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The 1972 Detroit Tigers won the American League East division championship with a record of 86-70 (.551), finishing one-half game ahead of the Boston Red Sox. They played one more game than the Red Sox due to a scheduling quirk caused by the 1972 Major League Baseball strike -- a game which turned out to allow them to win the division. They lost the 1972 American League Championship Series to the Oakland A`s three games to two.