A dramatic Twins season ended in dramatic fashion. The final day of the regular season couldn’t have been scripted much better than it played out on Sunday. The Twins headed into Sunday’s game needing to win and needing the Royals to complete the sweep of the Tigers. How it all played out was truly unbelievable. On top of all that Mauer headed into the final game with just a slight lead over Derek Jeter for the AL batting title.

Things started out on a down note. The White Sox scored early, the Tigers had jumped out to a 6-run lead over the Royals and Joe Mauer struck out in his first at-bat.

Then momentum began to turn. Joe Mauer led off the 4th inning with a double that started off a 3-run rally. Justin Morneau drove in Mauer and Torii Hunter hit his 31st homer of the year to put the Twins in the lead. Not long after that the Royals tied and then went ahead of the Tigers in the eighth inning.

The atmosphere at the Metrodome was about as good as it gets. Fans cheered loudly whenever another KC run or hit appeared on the scoreboard. Even a Tiger out was reason enough to applaud. In the eighth inning it was announced that Jeter had finished the day with a .343 batting average and Mauer, who sat at .347 was a lock for the batting title. Play stopped as Mauer stepped out of the dugout and the crowed roared for Mauer.

The Tigers tied the game and it started to become clear that extra innings were in order in Detroit. It was clear that the Twins would actually finish their game before the Tiger-Royal game ended. Joe Nathan finished off the White Sox and the Twins won their 96th game of the season by a score of 5-1. Very few fans left the dome. All eyes were on the scoreboard.

Finally, the FSN feed of the Tigers-Royals game was put on the Metrodome big screens. Detroit had the bases loaded with one out and Brandon Inge was batting. It didn’t look good. Inge blasted a ball down the left field line; it went foul and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, Joe Nelson struck out Inge. Jimmy Gobble was brought in to face lefthander Curtis Granderson. Granderson struck out looking and the dome went nuts. By that time several of the Twins players had gathered in the dugout and like 35,000+ fans, they were watching the game intently.

The Royals scored 2 runs in the top of the twelth against Kenny Rogers who was brought in for a rare relief appearance. When Sean Case grounded out for the third out in the bottom of the twelth it became official. The Twins were the AL Central Division champs.

The players stormed the field where they mobbed eachother for a short period before a crowd of players took a lap around the edge of the field. The players then retired to the clubhouse to celebrate more and the fans began to exit the dome more than 30 minutes after the Twins game actually finished.

Game Notes

• The Twins became the only team to take sole possesion of first place in their division for the first time on the final day of the season.
• Joe Mauer became the first AL catcher to win the batting title. He was also the first catcher ever to lead both leagues in hitting.
• The Twins finished with their best regular season win total (96) since the 1970 team that won 98.
• Justin Morneau got his 130th RBI
• Torii Hunter finished the season just short of 100 RBI with 98. He did get a career high 31 homers.
• Carlos Silva had a pretty stable outing and probably won himself the 4th spot in the postseason rotation.

Playoff Schedule

The downside, for me, of the Twins winning the Central is that many of the games will be played during the day, so the Yankees can be shown during primetime television. The Twins will host the Athletics on Tuesday and Wednesday at noon and will play in Oakland on Friday at 3pm.