Worth noting this White Sox tailspin started with losing 2 of 3 to the Reds. Will be interesting if they challenge the Twins this weekend too.

It will certainly be a battle this weekend

Ryu, 7 shutout innings vs the Yankees. He should give them a fighting chance in game 1 whoever they draw in the playoffs.

Have to be a cleveland fan for today!

Hand fan.

 

Cheering for Hand to fan a man.

Let’s see if Jose Abreu has an answer to the Jose Ramirez MVP talk...

 

Edit: ...he did not.

Hand trying to fan McCann...

 

Worth noting this White Sox tailspin started with losing 2 of 3 to the Reds. Will be interesting if they challenge the Twins this weekend too.

 

Gene Mauch's team could get some company. 

Destiny controlled

Cleveland 5, Chicago 4, fine'

Holy crap, that White Sox dugout with two outs in the ninth looked like a receiving line at a wake.

 

That was fun!

Don't feel like thawing out any chicken, but I'll take it. 

Sox lose.

 

Fortune is favoring the Twins this week — we get two 1 run wins over Detroit, while the White Sox lose 2 walk offs and a 1-run game.

 

Sox lose.

Fortune is favoring the Twins this week — we get two 1 run wins over Detroit, while the White Sox lose 2 walk offs and a 1-run game.

That's baseball. Sometimes you're the pigeon and sometimes you're the statue.

 

Sox lose.

Fortune is favoring the Twins this week — we get two 1 run wins over Detroit, while the White Sox lose 2 walk offs and a 1-run game.

Home field advantage really makes a difference in the game.

And now things are again right with the world and I can go back to rooting against both Cleveland and Chicago. 

 

The Sox is only one game ahead of the Indians.

And now things are again right with the world and I can go back to rooting against both Cleveland and Chicago.

Hopefully our rooting energy this week hasn’t made Cleveland into some kind of unstoppable force!

Hicks scores the first run of the game for the Yankees! Now 4-1, tying run at the plate, but 2 outs in the 8th

Lance Lynn sporting a quarantine beard in the HOU-TEX game.

Wow--with the Indians sweeping the Sox, Twins now hold a 1 game lead with 3 to play. Suddenly their fate is in their own hands now. What a very strange turn of events.

So they lead Cleveland by 2 and hold the tiebreaker, thus its pretty unlikely the Indians can catch us.

 

There could be a 3 way tie if Twins lose all 3, Indians win 2 and Sox win 1. In that event I believe they said last night Twins would get the tiebreaker for 1st place based on their better record against the two opponents.(haven't checked that out...but thats what they said) Not to worry, that won't happen. But Indians definitely could move up to 2nd.

 

If we fail to hang on to 1st, looks like there is no way Yanks get home field now if we have to play them. (I think)

Coulda been worse. Three walks and an infield hit for the Evil Empire, but pinch-hitter Gary Sanchez flies out to deep center with the sacks juiced.

Lance Lynn getting knocked around in his final start—7-0 ‘Stros.

This is the wildest comeback for a division lead I have ever seen if the Twins can hold on. Just need to win more games against the Reds than the White Sox against the Cubs.

Twins lose tiebreaker to Chicago, but win tiebreaker over Cleveland and win a three-way tiebreaker.

 

So by my math, the magic number to finish ahead of Cleveland is 1 and to finish ahead of Chicago is 3. 

 

This is the wildest comeback for a division lead I have ever seen if the Twins can hold on. Just need to win more games against the Reds than the White Sox against the Cubs.

 

This would be a great comeback, but for me the wildest comeback for a division lead is still the 2006 season. End of July 2006 the Twins were like 9 games back from 1st place Detroit, then they just went on a tear. They had an amazing August and September, and then it all came down to the KC sweeping the Tigers in the final series while the Twins watched the final out on the metrodome jumbotron. Twins ending up winning the division the final day of the season. 

 

This would be a great comeback, but for me the wildest comeback for a division lead is still the 2006 season. End of July 2006 the Twins were like 9 games back from 1st place Detroit, then they just went on a tear. They had an amazing August and September, and then it all came down to the KC sweeping the Tigers in the final series while the Twins watched the final out on the metrodome jumbotron. Twins ending up winning the division the final day of the season. 

Concur!

Done:  Blue Jays!

 

This is the wildest comeback for a division lead I have ever seen if the Twins can hold on. Just need to win more games against the Reds than the White Sox against the Cubs.

Imagine how excited everyone would be if ALL THREE TEAMS didn't make the "playoffs".

 

The NHL/NBA style playoffs have really made the regular season irrelevant. You only have to be a mediocre team to play on.

 

That said, the White Sox-Indians series was a great series to watch and was really spectacular baseball.

This Scoreboard Watch thread was a good idea.  Thanks!

This is the wildest comeback for a division lead I have ever seen if the Twins can hold on. Just need to win more games against the Reds than the White Sox against the Cubs.

This is pretty good so far, although in addition to 2006, the 2009 Twins were 3 games back with only 4 to play. That was wild! (After having been as many as 7 games back earlier in September.)

 

2008 was close too — 2.5 back with 6 to play, although we didn’t seal the deal in game 163.

Imagine how excited everyone would be if ALL THREE TEAMS didn't make the "playoffs".

 

The NHL/NBA style playoffs have really made the regular season irrelevant. You only have to be a mediocre team to play on.

 

That said, the White Sox-Indians series was a great series to watch and was really spectacular baseball.

I hear what you are saying, but at the same time, I like postseason baseball and I am genuinely excited to see all 8 AL playoff teams face off with each other next week. It is different than pennant races of old, but it has the potential to be very entertaining in its own way.

 

That said, I may not want to see this exact playoff format again next year, presumably following a full season.