The old saying in New England, well, at least among the Boston Red Sox fans, is "My two favorite teams are the Red Sox and whoever's playing the Yankees."

Last night my second favorite team in baseball was the Baltimore Orioles, and they came through, beating the Evil Empire 10-9 in 10 innings at Baltimore. An hour earlier the Sox beat the Twins, and with that combination of wins and losses, the Red Sox are the American League East champions for the first time since 1995.

Of course, the Yankees aren't out - they're the wild-card team.

The Sox will host the <grumble> Los Angeles </grumble> Angels of Anaheim in the best-of-five ALDS, starting either Wednesday or Thursday at Fenway Park.

And then there's the home field advantage - The magic number to clinch home field throughout the playoffs is two over the Indians, as right now each time has a 95-65 record. The Red Sox hold the tie-breaker, based on a 5-2 head-to-head advantage.

Reminds me a little bit of that movie Baseketball:

KENNY MAYNE

So, with last night's victory
over Boston, next week the Beers
must beat Indianapolis in order
to advance to Charlotte. That's
in an effort to reduce their magic
number down to three.

DAN PATRICK

Right, and then... the Beers can
advance to the National Eastern
Division North to play Tampa.

KENNY MAYNE

So if the Beers beat Detroit and
Denver beats Atlanta in the
American Southwestern Division
East Northern, then Milwaukee goes
to the Denslow Cup. Unless
Baltimore can upset Buffalo and
Charlotte ties Toronto, then
Oakland would play L.A. and
Pittsburgh in a blind choice round
robin. And if no clear winner
emerges from all this, a two-man
sack race will be held on
consecutive Sundays until a
champion is crowned.

DAN PATRICK

Right.

But don't get worried, because Jacoby Ellsbury and Coco Crisp would be fantastic in a sack race.