AL East Champions!

Well, it turns out that the collapse in Cleveland gave us a fourth playoff scenario that I did not list previously, and the Yankees capitalized. After losing a tough one on Friday night, the Yanks went into today's game with the Big Unit on the mound and won the AL East title for the 8th year in a row. How?

As we learned just before the game, if the Yankees could grab a win today and combine it with a Cleveland loss, the Yanks would automatically grab the AL East because of their season series record with the Sox. Huh? See, with Cleveland falling behind, they become a non-factor to the Yankees. Worst case scenario now, the Yanks and Sox tie for the season. But any record tie that occurs between the Yanks and Sox (if the Sox win on Sunday, both teams will have the same record) would be broken by the fact that the Yankees won the season series with the Sox 10-9. So the win today automatically gave us the division, because no matter what happens on Sunday, we have the "leg up" on season stats...and I am happy! Only one month ago, the Yanks were 8 games behind...now they are on top, where they belong!

Next up - we need the Sox to lose on Sunday, the Indians to win on Sunday, and see the Sox and Indians play for the last playoff spot on Monday...and watch the Sox lose and miss the postseason only one year after winning the World Series. Like the saying goes, every squirrel finds a nut sometimes. 2004 was a big nut for the Boston Red Sux!