It's Beginning To Smell Like October Up In Here

Holy good Lord, Joe Mauer looks hot covered in champagne.

Extra coffee is on the menu this morning for Minnesota Twins fans. After the Twins had an 8th inning rally to surge ahead of the Indians, they cut their magic number down to 1. After that, the fans and the players had to wait almost two hours for the Oakland A's to take care of business at home against the Chicago White Sox. Damn those pesky time zone differences.

Lots of folks stayed up late to watch the Sox completely come apart, and some fans even lingered at Target Field to wait for their boys to come out to give out high fives, take pictures, and douse them with beer once the celebrations began. And celebrate they did, after securing their place in the post season for the 6th time in 9 seasons under Ron Gardenhire.

The White Sox - who held the lead in the AL Central going into the All-Star break - had a monumental collapse during the second half of the season, while the Twins managed to play the best baseball in the Majors. The Sox have gone on an 8 game losing streak over the last week and a half to help the Twins run away with the division. Emergency room staffs will see fewer strokes and heart attacks around the AL Central territory in the upcoming weeks since there will be no game 163 to decide the division this year, as there had been in the previous two seasons.

Did we mention that the Twins did this without the help of their Canadian Crusher Justin Morneau? He's been sidelined with a concussion and lingering symptoms after taking a knee to the head while sliding into a base on July 7th. And as much as Morneau is missed, injuries may have played a key part in the Twins second half badassery. With Morneau out, Michael Cuddyer has held the post at first base, which put Jason Kubel in right field. With Kubel regularly playing in right (thus no longer sharing the DH spot with Jim Thome), ol' Jim Jam has been in the lineup almost every day, mashing taters and climbing his way up the top ten all time home runs list. And while the infield was getting banged up - including injuries to Orlando Hudson, Nick Punto, and J.J. Hardy - a little known newbie named Danny Valencia emerged as a solid hitter playing the hot corner.

Some might credit the division championship on veteran pitcher Carl Pavano and his glorious mustache. Once he grew that baby out, he was unstoppable. Even without their closer Joe Nathan, various injuries to starters Scott Baker and Kevin Slowey throughout the season, and even a brief stint in the minors for Nick Blackburn, the pitching staff as a whole has been lights out. Opponents look downright silly trying to swing at Francisco Liriano's slider for strike three, and Jesse Crainwreck has even earned the respect of Twins fans.

The Twins don't want to get too lazy over the remaining 11 games on their schedule. They're still battling for home field advantage throughout the post season with the Rays and the Yankees. We've seen how dominant the Yankees have been when playing the Twins in post season play over the last few years, and the Twins would love to get out from under their tyranny. The Yankees and the Rays are neck and neck for the AL East and Wild card spots, with New York enjoying a 2 and a half game lead over Tampa after their win last night.

Next seat on the post-season bus? Most likely going to the NL Central and Cincinnati, who beat Milwaukee last night and got their magic number down to 4. The last division to decide will most likely be the NL West, which is crazy close between San Francisco, San Diego, and the Rockies.

We can't wait to see what the upcoming weeks hold for baseball. Better go stock up on some adult diapers.