One game. One winner. One playoff berth. One coin toss?
The Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox are about to compete in just the eighth one-game playoff to determine who gets to meet Tampa Bay Thursday.
Chicago gets to draw on its home crowd, before which, like the Twins at the Dome, it went 53-28.
Who cares that Minnesota swept Chicago last week to take a half game lead in the division and the season series 10 games to eight. Chicago won the coin toss.
A coin flip determines the home team in these situations even when the head-to-head series doesn't result in a tie.
Nick Blackburn takes the hill for the Twins. Double advantage to the Sox. He's 2-2 with a 5.67 ERA in five starts against them. Worse, he's 0-2 with a 7.20 ERA in three starts at U.S. Cellular Field.
OK, Sox starter John Danks has been suspect against Twins this season, posting a 7.91 ERA. Still, there's the home field advantage. The Twins won eight of nine against the Sox in Minnesota and lost seven of nine in Chicago.
Neither team wanted anything to do with the postseason, it seemed, as each patterned the other the final weekend of the season (two losses, then a win), plus Chicago defeated Detroit in a make-up game Monday, to set up this do-or-die.
If either team deserves a slight advantage it's the Twins.
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