Winner take pennant

It turns out that the White Sox impressive run into October was just the warm up for the American League's main event this season.

I'm betting that John Danks would pull in a pretty hefty one-game paycheck if he were allowed to sign with either Boston or Tampa for a one-game contract after winning two consecutive "win or go home" games this fall.

In echoes of the final days of the season, it comes down to one game tonight to decide the American League pennant, which would be the major storyline to follow tonight if the Red Sox didn't find ways to fall apart and claw themselves back into another postseason series.

Between both species of Sox, we've had a very interesting games, where an incredibly long regular season comes down to one sudden death game. Granted, the White Sox did it twice in two days, but the Red Sox are in the middle of a dogfight with the Rays for the American League pennant.

Who says that baseball is a boring game?

* Yes, I know the "Red Sox are the new Yankees" argument is nearly indisputable, but that doesn't mean that I can't feel for Rays fans.

I imagine they felt the same sinking feeling seeing Jonathan Papelbon trot into the game last night that I am used to from years of seeing Mariano Rivera enter late in games.

Sorry about that.

(Image from: ETeamz.com)