Playoffs

Sunday's games finalized the AL playoff picture. The Sox are headed to Chicago and the Stinkins, by virtue of the ass kicking they received from the Sox, are headed to Anaheim.

The Sox and the Stinkins finished the season with identical 95-67 records, but a "tiebreaker" gave the AL East title to the Stinkins.

Tiebreaker? What is this, the NFL? I thought ties were broken on the field. I understand that the Sox would rather have the off day than go to the Bronx to determine playoff matchups, but I thought the division title meant something. If MLB is going to stoop to tiebreakers, let it then admit that division titles are meaningless. That means I don't want to hear any more shit about consecutive division titles for the Stinkins, and how the Sox always finish second in the division. If the new standard is simply making the playoffs, then let's at least be honest about it.

Not that I'm unhappy about the Sox being the wild card team. They're in and that's what matters. But if division opponents have identical records, they're tied.

Anyway, the Sox open up in Chicago Tuesday. The Sox are 4-3 against Chicago this season and compare favorably against them in many offensive categories: a team batting average of .281 versus .262 for the pale hose, a .455 team slugging percentage versus.425, and most importantly, the Red Sox scored 910 runs this season, while Chicago scored 741.

Pitching, however, is another story: Chicago has a team ERA of 3.61, compared with 4.74 for the Sox. Timlin will have to be rock solid in save situations and Schill will have to be Schill -- he may have struggled this season but he's still one of the best big-game pitchers in the league. And now all the games are big.

Go Sox! Go Angels!