31 (Tigers); 27 (Twins)

I hate to have to do this, but it's time to add the Wild Card Magic Number. After a Labor Day weekend in which the White Sox squandered a chance to tighten Detroit's lead to an uncomfortably small margin, the Sox find themselves on the outside looking in at postseason play right now. The Tigers stretched their lead back to 5.5 games and the Twins edged ahead of the Good Guys by a half game, despite neither of those competitors playing well either. Detroit's Magic Number has shrunk to 20 over the Sox (it's 21 over the Twins) and Minnesota's Magic Number is down to 26 to eliminate them from the Wild Card chase.

I won't tell you what a lock the Sox were statistically to have beaten KC or how unusual it was for Bobby Jenks to have blown a save or for the team to have lost a game when they outhit their opponents, because the Sox have been defying the odds quite a bit lately -- and not in a good way. They need to take a few lessons from the Washington Nationals, who though out of any kind of race and with many of their players having been traded, came back to win four games in a row after trailing by two or more runs after seven innings. That's the first time since 1923 that a team has shown that much resilience or, if you prefer, heart. The Sox, who have the postseason sitting before them on a silver platter, need to show a little bit of either of those qualities. And lest anyone be confused about which Sox I mean, let me close by saying something more specific than usual: Go White Sox!