On Sunday, September 13, the Detroit Tigers beat the Toronto Blue Jays to improve their record to 76-66. Meanwhile, the Twins shut out the Oakland A's, giving them a record of 71-72. With the Twins 5-1/2 games out of first place with 19 to play, many Minnesota sports rubes (myself included) started focusing on the start of the NFL season. The logic of course was that if Detroit merely played .500 baseball the rest of the season, the Twins would have to go a whopping 15-4 just to tie for the division lead. And since power hitting first baseman Justin Morneau had just been declared out for the season, no one was giving the Twins a chance.
So what happened?
The Tigers did indeed go 10-10 in their final twenty games. And inexplicably, the Twins somehow won 15 of their final 19 games to force, for the second consecutive season, a one-game playoff to decide the American League Central division title!!
Tuesday, 4:00 pm at the Metrodome, the Twins will host the Detroit Tigers for the...ahem...."privilege" to play the New York Yankees in the first round of the playoffs.
UNBELIEVABLE!!!
-------------------------------------------
definitely looking at the Tigers for the W
ReplyDelete