He was barely audible, but Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera faced the media Tuesday less than four hours before a one-game playoff with the Twins to address the story that has become a relevant piece of Detroit's late-season struggles.

According to a police report, Cabrera had a .26 blood alcohol level and was involved in a domestic squabble with his wife in the wee hours of Saturday morning after partying following a Detroit loss the night before. The stretch ended with Detroit GM Dave Dombrowski picking Cabrera up at the police station.

Cabrera issued a statement Monday and then spoke Tuesday to the media. There was nothing revelatory to come out of the session, with Cabrera reiterating he was sorry for what had happened, talking about how much the Tigers need to win today and assuring reporters "no, no, no. I was good. I was focused," when they asked if the incident affected his play over the weekend.

Detroit manager Jim Leyland had no interest in discussing the incident in his pre-game chat with reporters. He termed the story "gossip" and was clearly irked when asked about Cabrera. "If you want to talk about today's game, we'll talk about today's game," Leyland said. "If you're talking about anything else, I'm walking right through that door, and I'm leaving," he added, motioning that he would retreat to his office in the clubhouse.

Everywhere but Detroit, the Cabrera incident seems to be just one piece of a larger puzzle filled with questions such as, "Can Rick Porcello deliver?" and "Can the Tigers avoid a complete collapse?"

Those other questions are still viable in the Motor City, but the Cabrera incident is playing much bigger in an economically downtrodden town with a star in the midst of an 8-year, $152.3 million contract.

Detroit media members have been batting around questions such as "Should Cabrera be benched Tuesday?" with the majority opinion being there is no time for statements, only time for redemption, and that Cabrera should play. And, in fact, he is in today's lineup, batting cleanup as usual. He enters the game with decent numbers against Twins' starter Scott Baker: 5-for-18 (.278) with a home run.

Cabrera, who went back to work on a Sudoku puzzle after his media session was over, can change much of the discussion with a big game today in a Tigers victory. But rest assured that if he falters and the Tigers lose, there will be a new set of questions after the game and carrying into the offseason.