Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda

The White Sox and Twins are dead even in the standings -- if you don't count the games they played against each other.  Yep, subtract those 13 Minnesota wins and five Sox wins from the two teams' totals and they both wind up at 80-60.

They got there in different ways.  The Twinkies are 34-20 against the rest of the A.L. Central, while the Sox failed to make hay against the three worst teams in the division, posting a 25-26 record with three to play against the Tribe.  The records against the A.L. West are virtually the same: 24-12 for the Piranhas and 24-13 for the Good Guys.  The Sox, who have one game left with Boston, are 16-18 versus the A.L. East, while the Twins, who have four to play against Toronto, are 14-18.  The category where the Sox shine is interleague play, with a Majors' best 15-3 mark, compared to Minnesota's 8-10 losing record.

But at the end of the day, it all comes back to those 18 games against the Twins.  Splitting the season series would have left the two teams tied right now.  A 10-8 margin for the Chisox would have the Good Guys up by 2.0 games with four left to play.  But that didn't happen, and Minnesota is going to the postseason and the Sox are going home.

They did clinch second place in the division yesterday by beating the Bosox while Detroit was dropping a pair to the Indians.  The Sox have the sixth best record in the league and the 11th best in the Majors, with a theoretical chance to improve to fourth best and seventh best, respectively.

By the way, back on July 13, I predicted that the Sox would finish with an 88-74 record.  Three more wins and they make me look prescient.  Go Sox!