The 2012 American League Division Series were two best-of-five-game series in Major League Baseball’s (MLB) 2012 postseason to determine the participating teams in the 2012 American League Championship Series. The three divisional winners and a fourth team—the winner of a one-game Wild Card playoff— played in two series. TBS carried most of the games, with some on MLB Network or TNT.

The series used the 2–3 format for 2012 because on March 2 the league had implemented the new "wild card" playoff, eliminating the travel day between Games 4 and 5. The 2–3 format was used for best-of-five Championship Series rounds prior to 1985 and for the Division Series rounds from 1995 to 1997. The matchups for the 2012 ALDS were:

(1) New York Yankees (East Division champions) vs. (5) Baltimore Orioles (Wild Card Game winner): Yankees win series, 3–2. (2) Oakland Athletics (West Division champions) vs. (3) Detroit Tigers (Central Division champions): Tigers win series, 3–2.The restriction on teams from the same division meeting in the Division Series was removed prior to the 2012 season. Therefore, the Yankees and Orioles, both from the East Division, were able to meet in the Division Series. Under the format used from 1998 to 2011, (1) New York would have faced (3) Detroit in one Division Series, and (2) Oakland would have faced (5) Baltimore in the other.

This was the third postseason match-up between the Athletics and the Tigers, and previously the Tigers had defeated the A's 4–0 in the 2006 ALCS. The Yankees and Orioles were meeting in the postseason for the second time; the Yankees had beaten the Orioles 4–1 in the 1996 ALCS, which witnessed the controversial Jeffrey Maier incident in Game 1.

The Tigers went on to defeat the Yankees in the ALCS, then lose the 2012 World Series to the National League champion San Francisco Giants.

Matchups

New York Yankees vs. Baltimore Orioles

Oakland Athletics vs. Detroit Tigers

New York vs. Baltimore

Game 1

The Yankees struck first in the first inning off of Jason Hammel when Derek Jeter singled and Ichiro Suzuki doubled to score Jeter for the game's first run, giving the Yankees a 1–0 lead. In the bottom of the third inning, Orioles outfielder Chris Davis singled, followed by a Lew Ford single, a Robert Andino sacrifice bunt, and a single by Nate McLouth, to give the O's a 2–1 lead. Then in the top of the fourth, the Yankees tied the game at two with a Mark Teixeira single with two men on. The game remained tied going into the ninth inning, until a lead-off home run by Russell Martin off of Jim Johnson pushed the Yankees ahead 3–2. Consecutive singles by Raúl Ibañez, Derek Jeter, and Ichiro Suzuki scored Ibanez, giving the Yankees a 4–2 lead. Robinson Canó doubled to score Jeter and Suzuki. Tommy Hunter relieved Johnson and Nick Swisher hit a sacrifice fly to score Canó, making the score 7–2. The Yankees' C.C. Sabathia pitched innings and after allowing a two-out double to Lew Ford, David Robertson came in to get the final out of the game, giving the Yankees the win and a 1–0 series lead.

Game 2

The Game 2 pitching matchup was a sharp contrast, pitting postseason veteran Andy Pettitte against rookie Wei-Yin Chen. Similar to the first game, both Jeter and Suzuki would reach base. With two men on and nobody out, Alex Rodriguez hit a sinking line drive which was speared in the air by Robert Andino, who then doubled up Derek Jeter off second. Later in the inning, Robinson Canó ripped a double down the right field line, and Ichiro Suzuki masterfully avoided the tag of Matt Wieters to score, giving the Yankees an early 1–0 lead.

It was all for naught, however, as Pettitte allowed the Orioles to load the bases with two outs on two singles and a walk, then gave up a two-run single to Chris Davis in the third inning. Baltimore tacked on some insurance in the sixth on a Mark Reynolds single. The Yankees threatened in the seventh when Jeter hit a single to make it 3–2. New York had players on second and third with two out in that inning, but Nick Swisher flied out to end the inning. Jim Johnson got the save to send the series to the Bronx tied at one game apiece.

Game 3

Baltimore had a 2–1 lead going into the ninth inning behind a strong performance by Miguel González. Rookies Ryan Flaherty and Manny Machado became the first pair of rookies to ever homer for the same team in the same game. Machado's blast ranked him as the second youngest player in postseason history, behind the Yankees' own Andruw Jones who had done so against the Yankees while with the Atlanta Braves in the 1996 World Series. Machado also became the youngest nine-hole hitter to homer in a postseason game at 20 years, 96 days. Flaherty's home run in the third off of Hiroki Kuroda put the Orioles up 1–0 before the Yankees tied the score in the bottom half when Russell Martin doubled with one out and scored on Derek Jeter's triple. Machado's home run in the fifth put Baltimore up 2–1. Heading to the ninth inning and three outs away from a 2–1 series deficit, the Yankees sent up Raúl Ibañez to pinch-hit for a struggling Alex Rodriguez with one out. Ibañez then lined a home run into the right field seats off Orioles closer Jim Johnson to tie the game in the ninth inning. Then in the 12th inning, Ibañez crushed the first pitch of the inning into the second deck of Yankee Stadium to win the game and take a series lead in walk-off fashion. Ibanez's heroics in this game marked the second time in eight days that he provided the game tying and walk-off hits for the Yankees. During a game against the Red Sox on October 2, 2012, Ibanez hit a game-tying 2-run home run off Andrew Bailey in the 9th inning, and then hit a walk-off single off of Andrew Miller in the 12th.

At age 40, Ibañez set at least four MLB postseason records with his two home runs.

Game 4

Game 4 was another marathon affair. Joe Saunders and Phil Hughes matched zeroes for four innings, before Nate McLouth led off the fifth for Baltimore with a home run. The Yankees responded in the sixth when Robinson Canó had an RBI groundout, but they left a runner in scoring position in that inning when Alex Rodriguez struck out. Rodriguez also left men on second and third with one out in the bottom of the eighth, dropping his batting average for the series down to .125 and continuing to draw the scorn of Yankees fans.

The game remained tied until the 13th inning, when Manny Machado hit a leadoff double off of David Phelps, then scored on an RBI double to J. J. Hardy. Jim Johnson got his second save of the series, ensuring a deciding Game 5 the next day.

This was the third time a postseason series had back-to-back games going at least 12 innings, joining the 1986 NLCS and the 2004 ALCS.

This was the final game in Jim Thome's Hall of Fame career. He would not appear in Game 5.

Game 5

The Yankees clinched a trip to the ALCS for the third time in four years with a 3–1 win. CC Sabathia gave the Yankees his second big performance of the series, pitching a complete game, giving up one run on four hits while striking out nine. The only nervous moments came in the sixth, when a long fly ball by Nate McLouth was ruled foul and the eighth, when the Orioles loaded the bases with one out, but Sabathia got out of the jam by striking out McLouth and getting J. J. Hardy to ground out.

The Yankees scored first in the fifth, when Game 3 hero Raúl Ibañez singled to score Mark Teixeira, who singled and stole second off of Jason Hammel. The Yankees tacked on some insurance in the sixth, when Derek Jeter walked with an out and scored on an Ichiro Suzuki double, and followed up in the seventh with a Curtis Granderson home run. It proved enough, as the Orioles only scored one run in the eighth on a Lew Ford single with two on. Sabathia got Matt Wieters to ground out for the final out, sending the Yankees to play for the pennant versus the Detroit Tigers. Sabathia was the first Yankee pitcher to pitch a complete game in the postseason since Roger Clemens pitched one against the Seattle Mariners in Game 4 of the 2000 ALCS.

Composite line score 2012 ALDS (3–2): New York Yankees over Baltimore Orioles

Oakland vs. Detroit

Game 1

Coco Crisp led off the game with a home run on Justin Verlander's fourth pitch, a 1–2 fastball. Verlander threw 26 pitches in the first inning, but he managed to only allow one run. The lead did not last long, as Austin Jackson doubled to lead off the bottom of the first, and moved to third on an infield hit by Quintin Berry. Miguel Cabrera followed with a double play grounder, with Jackson scoring on the play. In the bottom of the third, with the game tied at one, Quintin Berry hit a slow ground ball up the first-base line. A's starter Jarrod Parker fielded the ball, but it rolled out of his glove for an error. That allowed Omar Infante, who doubled earlier in the inning, to score from second base and give the Tigers a 2–1 lead. Alex Avila led off the fifth inning with a first-pitch homer to extend the Detroit lead to 3–1. In the top of the seventh, Verlander struck out Derek Norris to tie a playoff career-high in strikeouts with 11, which he set the prior year in Game 3 of the ALDS against the Yankees, which he won. In the bottom of the seventh, with two runners on, Pat Neshek, pitching for the first time since the death of his one-day-old son, got out of the jam by getting Infante to ground into a force out and striking out Austin Jackson. In the top of the eighth, Brandon Moss came close to a game-tying two-run home run off Joaquín Benoit, but fell just short when the ball held up at the right-field wall for Andy Dirks, who made the catch. José Valverde pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his first save of the 2012 postseason. He struck out two and got George Kottaras to pop up to end the game.

Game 2