Diamondbacks Win NL West, Giants Fail Miserably

After a pair of 90-loss seasons and just a year after going 65-97, the Arizona Diamondbacks are sitting an impressive 91-66 and heading to the playoffs as the division champions for the first time in four years.

In his first full season as manager, Kirk Gibson watched in amazement as his team celebrated on the field, in the clubhouse, and of course, in the pool out behind the right field fence. Sadly, they still had their uniforms on.

Time Machine: Brewers Win First Division Since 1982

It's been so long since the Milwaukee Brewers won a division title, that the last time they did -- back in 1982 -- was the same year that Cal Ripken, Jr. began his streak of 2,632 consecutive Major League Baseball games played. Yep, some of you weren't even born yet.

Between Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun on Friday night, nothing was going to stop the Brewers from taking home the National League Central title... except maybe the St. Louis Cardinals beating the Chicago Cubs. But those Cubbies did what they do best in September: play the spoiler.

Rangers Keep AL West Crown, Sip on Ginger Ale

While the Milwaukee Brewers and Arizona Diamondbacks soaked each other in champagne after clinching their respective division titles at home Friday night, the Texas Rangers did no such thing.

Upon winning the American League West for the second straight season, the Rangers sprayed ginger ale all over the clubhouse, saluting their non-alcoholic beverages in the air in respect to their alcoholic teammate, Josh Hamilton. Now that's love.

Texas did their recovering buddy the same solid last season after winning the ALDS before eventually heading to the World Series, where they lost to the San Francisco Giants, who totally blew it recently.

Yankees Clinch Yet Another Playoff Berth

As Mariano Rivera earned his 603rd career save a day after becoming Major League Baseball's all-time saves leader, his New York Yankees punched their third straight ticket to the playoffs with a 4-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays Wednesday. In fact, this marks their 16th playoff berth in 17 seasons.

If anything, the 94-60 Yankees are awfully consistent. The worst they could do at this point is become the American League Wild-Card, with their magic number to win the AL East for the 12th time in 16 years at two. It's not even a big deal anymore. No hip bumps on the field or champagne in the clubhouse. Just their targets set dead on a 28th World Championship.

Phillies Clinch National League East, Business as Usual

Nothing to see here folks. It's just the Philadelphia Phillies fifth straight division title. Carry on.

(Good for you, Hunter Pence.)

[Phillies Nation]

Detroit Tigers Finally Win the American League Central

Aretha Franklin becomes the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The Simpsons cartoon first appears as a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show.

Michael Jackson releases his hit album Bad.

The year was 1987 and it was the last time the Detroit Tigers enjoyed a division title... some of you weren't even born yet.

NL West: the Final Countdown

It's the FINAL COUNTDOOOOOOOOOWN.

Happy October everyone! Who doesn't love a good divisional race? The National League West is coming down to the final weekend of the regular season. With just three sold-out games remaining, the San Francisco Giants need just one victory over the visiting San Diego Padres to win the division and end their six-year playoff drought.

Speaking of droughts, Pablo Sandoval finally ended his 66-at bat homerless skid with a shot into McCovey Cove last night. Kung Fu Panda has just 12 hits in his last 63 at-bats, but he insists he's feeling more chill lately and finding his stroke again:

Champagne Floods Sparse Tropicana Field

These people love their Rays. They also paid for their seats.

If the Rays clinch a playoff berth and only 17,891 people are there to see it, did it really happen?

While the American League East title -- along with the best record in the league -- is still up for grabs, the Rays did indeed clinch their second playoff berth ever Tuesday night with a 5-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles.

David Price, who went off about the minimal attendance at Tropicana Field Monday via Twitter, struck out eight and surrendered six hits, allowing just one runner past second base over eight solid innings.

Jay Bruce Swings the Reds into October

March 1 - Yahoo! is founded in Santa Clara, California.

September 1 - The DVD is invented.

September 4 - eBay is founded.

September 12 - Red Hot Chili Peppers release One Hot Minute.

October 3 – O. J. Simpson is found not guilty.

The year is 1995, and it was the last time the Cincinnati Reds won the National League Central division title. In fact, it was the last time they made it past the regular season at all.

Making Roy Halladay's Dreams Come True

Congratulations to the Philadelphia Phillies on clinching their fourth consecutive National League East division title.

Yep. They're the team to beat once again.

After winning it all in 2008 before losing the World Series the following year to the New York Yankees, the Phillies are ready to battle. With just five games left in the season and a 94-63 record, they've ensured home field advantage throughout the playoffs, and into the Big Show -- if they make it there -- since the NL won the All-Star game this year.

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.

The Crazy Mixed-Up AL East

Things are getting pretty complicated in the American League East.

Thanks to two homers and five RBI by way of Curtis Granderson's bat, the New York Yankees came away with an 8-6 home victory over the Tampa Bay Rays Monday, along with a 1.5-game division lead. Meanwhile, the Rays' season series lead over the Yankees was shaved to 8-7.

Don't look now, here come the Bronx Bombers. Let's break it down.

• The only possible way for the Yankees to take the season series is to sweep the three remaining games, starting with this evening's game two matchup between James Shields and Phil Hughes.



• Suppose New York wins two of three. That would end the season series at 9-9, with the tie being broken by the teams' intradivisional records. As of right now, the Rays have the edge at 39-27, but if the Yankees do win at least two of those games, the Rays would still have a 40-29 advantage to the Yankees' 36-26 record.



• New York will finish their season out within the AL East: six against the Boston Red Sox and three against the Toronto Blue Jays. Tampa Bay has only one series within their division, against the Baltimore Orioles, who are notorious spoilers.

The Minnesota Twins, who are about to clinch the AL Central, lost their season series to both the Rays and Yankees, which is the tiebreaker for playoff seeding. However, the Twins have a pretty decent schedule to end the regular season: two more games at home against the Cleveland Indians before heading to Detroit and Kansas City, then coming back for a four-game set against the Toronto Blue Jays at Target Field, where they own a best-in-baseball mark at 50-25.

Speaking of the Twins, check out the badass Denard Span t-shirt courtesy of Seventh Ink. Yay playoffs!

[Associated Press]

Yankees Clinch, Ho Hum

Are the New York Yankees the only team to not high five each other over champagne after a playoff clinch? Really, don't get excited or anything guys.

After his team blew a 5-0 lead over the Los Angeles Angels Tuesday night, Alex Rodriguez (who always seems to have his hand on some guys' rear) homered and drove in three runs including the tie-breaking sacrifice fly in the ninth.

One More For the Road

The Chicago White Sox, who have played some pretty crappy baseball as of late, will host the Detroit Tigers Monday afternoon with a makeup game for one last shot at tying the Minnesota Twins for the American League Central division title.

If the Sox manage to pull that one off, they'll play a Tuesday tie-breaker against the Twins, who swept them over the weekend to gain a half-game lead.

Holy Crap, The Brewers Did It

This Milwaukee Brewers postseason was brought to you in part by El Capitán Chorizo. Okay, and Ryan Braun... who actually wasn't even born yet the last time the Brew Crew made the playoffs.

CC Sabathia worked a lights-out, four-hit complete game (the 26th of his career and 10th of the season) against the NL Central Champion Chicago Cubs Sunday during his third straight start, on three days’ rest. Tough. Meanwhile, Brauny hit a tie-breaking longball in the eighth to give the Yost-less Brewers the 3-1 victory along with the National League wild card.

Angels Clinch, Scare All Teams

Where else can you see Torii Hunter do the backstroke in a puddle on the clubhouse floor while serving a two-game suspension?

Nowhere other than the puddle of champagne and beer, soaked with the sweet taste of victory after winning the American League West.

Colorado Rockies Clinch in Wild Game

In the first playoff game to determine a postseason berth since 1999, the San Diego Padres put their future Cy Young ace Jake Peavy on the hill to face NL MVP hopeful Matt Holliday and the smoldering Colorado Rockies in the very last game of the season.

The NL wild card ended after 13 crazy innings Monday night, sending a stunned Trevor Hoffman and a sad bunch of Padres packing for a long offseason.

Colorado's celebration started pretty much immediately after Holliday failed to touch home plate and will continue until they are swept in the first round by the Philadelphia Phillies.

Bold predictions rule!

[USA Today]

Rally Cap Schmally Cap

Eighteen days ago, the New York Mets had a nice, comfy seven-game cushion in the NL East and that broad to your right had a big grin on her face. Not even a stuffed animal wearing a ball cap can cheer her up, now.

They say "broads" in New York, right?

The Mets went on to drop six of their last seven games, each and every one at Shea Stadium. It seems that all the prayers of all the Mets fans in the world couldn't stop the hopes and dreams of the Philadelphia Phillies.

And really, what better way to polish off a monumental collapse than with a craptastic start by your trusty veteran?

After blowing a substantial division lead, the Mets were officially eliminated from the playoffs Sunday when Tom Glavine was bitch-slapped for seven runs -- in the first inning -- of the season-ending 8-1 loss to the Florida Marlins. Yes, those rotten Marlins who just love to play the spoiler.

New York's defeat paired with the Phillies' 6-1 victory over the Washington Nationals handed the division title to Philadelphia for the first time since 1993 and sent the shocked Mets packing for a long, long winter.

The eulogies out of Amazin' Nation...

[New York Times]

Give Me Some of That Nice California Wine!

The Chicago Cubs have had a wild season.

The big expectations began before the season even started with $300 million chalked up to their roster after a 2006 last-place finish. By the All Star break, they were 8 1/2 games out, fighting amongst themselves and looking like the disappointing club their fans have grown to suffer by.

That Dirty Rally Monkey

John Lackey helped the Los Angeles Angels clinch their third AL West title in four years Sunday, leading his club to a 7-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

After losing two in a row to their division rivals, the Halos pulled out a win in their final home game of the season in front of a sellout crowd, who missed out on the playoffs last year.

Macier Izturis and Casey Kotchman homered in the third inning, which was enough to give Lackey his 18th W, holding the Mariners to two runs over seven innings.

[Halos Heaven]