Tigers and Twins Are Set for One-Game Playoff, but Tailgating Comes First

The Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins will spend Monday night in Minneapolis, resting and waiting, not necessarily by choice. To get their minds off Tuesday's one-game playoff for baseball's eighth and final playoff spot, perhaps some of them will attend the "Monday Night Football" game at the Metrodome, starring Vikings quarterback Brett Favre against his former team, the Green Bay Packers.

It is safe to say the Tigers and Twins have heard a little something about the Vikings-Packers game.

On a day when the seven other playoff teams, with nothing tangible to play for, were able to ease (and in some cases, back) into the postseason, the Twins and Tigers both posted emphatic wins in their 162nd games on Sunday, finishing with identical 86-76 records and forcing a one-game playoff, hosted by the Twins, for the American League Central crown.

And because of the NFL's priority status at the multipurpose Metrodome, "Monday Night Football" takes precedence over the Twins-Tigers playoff, forcing Major League Baseball to hold its tiebreaker game at 5 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday. Because of the time requirement for switching the stadium over from baseball to football, even a noon start Monday would have been impossible. The NFL showed little interest in moving the game to accommodate MLB.

"It really should come down to that: one last game, here at the dome," Twins catcher Joe Mauer told reporters Sunday.

Perhaps Favre is a New York Yankees fan, because the delay in deciding the AL Central crown helps nobody so much as the AL East champion Yankees, who will be well-rested, with their starting rotation lined up (headed by ace lefty CC Sabathia in Game 1) -- while the Central champ, whichever team it is, will arrive in the Bronx road-weary and depleted.

Technically, the Yankees, by virtue of having the AL's best record, can wait until an hour after the end of the Twins-Tigers playoff to decide whether they want Series A, which begins Wednesday and offers an extra off-day between Games 1 and 2 (and thus, the opportunity to use only three starting pitchers), or the more traditional Series B, which begins Thursday.

However, all signs are that the Yankees have already decided upon Series A, with nominal fourth starter Joba Chamberlain in their bullpen.

In the other AL Division Series, the Los Angeles Angels, champions of the West, meet the Boston Red Sox, who finished second to the Yankees in the East and won the wild card. Because of the Yankees' choice of series, the Angels and Red Sox could go through their workouts on Tuesday in Anaheim, Calif., without knowing for certain whether their series will start Wednesday or Thursday.

The National League bracket features three division champs who backed into their berths, with varying degrees of ugliness, and one wild card team that certainly did not.

The West champion Los Angeles Dodgers, who snapped a five-game losing streak on Saturday, will host the Central champion St. Louis Cardinals, who lost six of their last seven to end the season. In the other series, the East champion Philadelphia Phillies (4-6 over their final 10 games) meet the hottest team in the league -- the wild-card champion Colorado Rockies (20-11 since Sept. 1).

"We're definitely not firing on all cylinders," Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa told reporters Saturday, a statement that could easily be echoed by counterparts Joe Torre of the Dodgers and Charlie Manuel of the Phillies. "The fact is we've gotten beat and in some places it has not been pretty. . . . But we're going to playing in October. We have to make sure we understand what the priorities are."

With everything else settled, Sunday's only meaningful drama revolved around the Twins and Tigers, who began the day tied atop the AL Central standings. The Tigers, trying to avoid an embarrassing collapse (they led the division by seven games on Sept. 6 and by three games as recently as Wednesday), posted their victory first, beating the Chicago White Sox, 5-3, behind 7 2/3 innings from ace Justin Verlander (19-9) and two home runs from Ryan Raburn.

In Minneapolis, in what was supposed to be the final game at the Metrodome before the Twins open their new open-air stadium next April, the Tigers' win was posted on the out-of-town scoreboard during the fifth inning, but the Twins had little trouble in bashing the Kansas City Royals, 13-4.

A year ago, the Twins played in another one-game playoff, losing to the White Sox in Game 163, but by almost every tangible and intangible measure they will hold a decided edge over the Tigers on Tuesday.

The Twins are 48-33 this season at home. Their starting pitcher Tuesday, right-hander Scott Baker, is 8-2 with a 3.21 ERA since the all-star break. (His Tigers counterpart, rookie right-hander Rick Porcello, is 6-3 with a 3.92 in the second half.) The Twins also are the hotter team, have the least to lose and would seem to be fate's chosen ones, if you believe in such things.

They also, presumably, hold the edge in access to tickets for Monday night's Vikings game. They do, after all, share their stadium with them.