For the third consecutive season, we need another day to settle the MLB regular season. And, thanks to Brett Favre and Monday Night Football at the Metrodome tonight, we get a day to stew about it, too.
In 2007, the Rockies beat the Padres in a thriller in Game 163 for the NL wild card. Last season, there was a makeup game between the White Sox and Tigers on the Monday after the season to determine if we needed a playoff, and when the White Sox won, they took on Minnesota and beat the Twins to win the AL Central. The Twins are the first team to play in a tiebreaker two years in a row.
Two years ago, the Rockies rode the wave all the way to the World Series. Last year, the White Sox fizzled in the first round to the eventual pennant-winning Tampa Bay Rays.
Which way will the one-game winner go this year? I like the latter.
The 103-win Yankees are waiting for the winner and have their choice of which series schedule to pick. They're holding out their choice until after the tiebreaker. But it's really a no-brainer.
If they choose the Wednesday-Friday-Sunday-Monday-Wednesday setup, they make the AL Central winner play right away, and they also only have to go three deep in their pitching rotation, moving Joba Chamberlain to the bullpen. (No matter what, the Tigers or Twins can't set up their rotation.)
The Yankees could choose the Thursday-Friday-Sunday-Monday-Wednesday setup, but that gives the Tigers or Twins a travel day. Frankly, I'm surprised they're holding out. (Maybe it's just to keep the Red Sox guessing on flight plans to Los Angeles.) The players hinted at getting ready for "Wednesday." And at one point Sunday evening, the Yankees' official ticket site was selling tickets to a home game on Wednesday. (It was changed later.)
The likely pitching matchup for the tiebreaker game is the Tigers' Rick Porcello (14-9, 4.04 ERA), a solid Rookie of the Year candidate, against the Twins' Scott Baker (15-9, 4.36). Porcello is 1-2 with a 3.09 ERA against the Twins this season; Baker is 1-1 with a 6.75 ERA against the Tigers, but beat them last week.
First pitch is at 5 p.m. Tuesday, and it will be televised by TBS.
Comments
“when the White Sox won, they went to Minnesota and beat the Twins to win the AL Central.”
WRONG, the game was played in Chicago, the Sox having won an earlier coin flip. Had this year’s rules been in effect that game would have been in Minneapolis, the Twins having taken the season series, but alas they were not….
Thanks. Fixed. (Got that from a trusted source, too.)