Fans of American League teams have two choices this week: to sit back and take a nap until the playoffs begin next week, or to bury their heads in their hands and scream "wait 'til next year!" as they watch their team's final games this weekend. The few races that seemed to be interesting in the middle of the summer have concluded without any teams having to sprint to the finish, as the final two American League playoff sports were clinched by the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians this week.
Cleveland guaranteed that October will see an Indian summer on Sunday when it beat the Minnesota Twins 9-1 to win its sixth Central division title in the last seven years. Bartolo Colon pitched eight shutout innings and Jim Thome had his 49th homer in Cleveland's 14th victory over the Twins this year.
The Indians clinched the title without the help of one of the key members of the team - the manager. Charlie Manual was in the hospital with an abdominal infection and was forced to drink cranberry juice while his team was drinking champagne to celebrate its victory. He is expected to be released this week and should rejoin the team in Toronto this weekend.
Cleveland will face either the AL West champ Seattle Mariners or the wild card Oakland Athletics in the playoffs to begin in the middle of next week.
The Yankees clinched their AL East title last Tuesday when the second-place Boston Red Sox lost to Baltimore. New York dropped its game against Tampa Bay that night, however, as starter Roger Clemens lost for the first time since May 20.
While the Yanks' Roger Clemens cruised to his first 20 wins of the season, the 21st win has been a little more elusive. Clemens had a no-decision against the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday. The game, which was Oriole Cal Ripken's last in New York, was almost as long as the unedited version of Titanic and had to be called at 1-1 at the end of the 15th due to rain.
Overall, the teams combined for only 13 hits, 32 strikeouts, and 26 runners left on base during the marathon. The game will probably not be made up, unless the outcome would effect the Yankees' playoff match-up.
The game was an emotional and nostalgic one for both teams, as Ripken said good-bye to the city that was home to Lou Gehrig, the man whose consecutive games record he broke. Ripken was honored during a pre-game ceremony in which he stood on the same mound where Gehrig uttered his famous retirement speech, and was even applauded by the usually un-welcoming Yankees fans during each of his at-bats.
The Yanks do not enter in the playoffs as strong as they would like, however, as two of their premier pitchers are ailing right now. All-Star closer Mariano Rivera has a hurt ankle and is out until at least mid-week, and Orlando Hernandez was limited to 1 and 2/3 innings during his Saturday start because of a sore right shoulder.
And while Yankees manager Joe Torre says it is not time to panic yet, the New York injury list doesn't end there. Right fielder Paul O'Neill hasn't played since Sept. 8, and starter Andy Pettitte was knocked out of his last game when he was hit in the elbow with a line drive. Designated hitter David Justice and shortstop Derek Jeter have also been nursing injuries and are not playing at 100 percent right now.
Out west, where the playoff-bound teams have been sitting on the beach tanning and waiting to find out who their opponents would be, the Mariners and Athletics have created a rivalry that may keep fans entertained in a playoff series that features the usual suspects. The Athletics swept the Mariners last weekend, but Seattle came back in full force this weekend to take two out of three from the wild card champion.
With a record of 111-45, Seattle now needs three wins to tie the 1998 New York Yankees' record for most wins in a season in the American League.
During Saturday's game, Mariner Ichiro Suzuki set a new record for most hits in a rookie season when he had his 234th hit of the season in the fourth inning. The previous record was set by "Shoeless" Joe Jackson with Cleveland in 1911.
Playoff matches for the American League have yet to be determined, as they will depend on teams' final records. But, the four teams have been tweaking their rotations for weeks so that their best starters will be ready to go for the first game of the five-game division series.
