With a magic number of just three, the Twins are on the brink their first Central Division title since 2010. Cleveland trails Minnesota by three games. Both teams are down their final 6 games of the season.
At this point, if the Twins go simply 3-3 against two of the worst teams in baseball (Detroit is 46-109, Kansas City is 57-100), Cleveland cannot win the division even if they go unbeaten.
There are several scenarios for clinching the division. This is what it looks like over the next three, heading into Tuesday's games (both teams are off on Monday).
- Tuesday: The Twins are at Detroit, Cleveland is at the Chicago White Sox. The Twins cannot clinch on Tuesday, but could reduce their magic number to just one if they win and the Indians lose.
- Wednesday: If the Twins win Tuesday, they can clinch as early as Wednesday. They either need to win Tuesday, or have Cleveland lose Tuesday in order to clinch on Wednesday.
- Thursday: If Cleveland wins all three games Tuesday-Thursday, the Twins can still clinch with a sweep in Detroit. However, they may not know they won the division until well after the noon game in Detroit. Cleveland plays Chicago at 7pm Thursday night, some 4 hours after the Twins game is done and they are on their way to Kansas City.
Should we get to Friday, and the Twins still haven't clinched, there's no reason to panic. Yes, the Twins get Kansas City who they have owned so far in 2019 (12-4 record). But Cleveland has to take on the Nationals in Washington, a team that has won 85 games and is on it's way to the playoffs in the National League.
Cleveland by the way, is fighting for their postseason life. Currently the Indians are tied with Tampa at 92-64, two games behind Oakland. If there is a tie for the final Wild Card spot, those two teams would have to play a game September 30th for the right to advance to the AL Wild Card Game the following day.
The Twins are also hosting several postseason-push viewing parties so you can celebrate the clinching of the division with other fans.
Don't miss any of the buzz and excitement as we push toward the Postseason! Photo opportunities, interactive games, giveaways, special appearances, and a whole lot of fun await.RSVP: https://t.co/jhY1DiUVAJ #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/CAHidbizu3
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins)
September 23, 2019 Looking ahead a bit, the playoff schedule is still very much up in the air. The Yankees and Astros have both clinched their divisions, but are separated by just a half game for the best record and #1 seed (Astros would win a tiebreaker with a better head-to-head record). The Twins are locked in (assuming they hold off Cleveland) to the #3 seed. Houston has the slightly easier schedule the rest of the way. The Twins would start on the road in the AL Division series on Friday, October 4th against whoever finishes in the #2 seed. The ALDS is a best-of-five series.
If it's the New York, it would be the fifth meeting between the Twins and Yankees in the postseason, all since 2003. Things have not gone Minnesota's way in those meetings with the Bronx Bombers winning every series (and the 2017 Wild Card game). New York is 10-2 against our Twins in the postseason.
