The White Sox enter Sunday as the AL Central leaders, with the Twins and Cleveland just a half-game back. With only three weeks left in the season and 11 games pitting those contenders, it sets up a thrilling race for the championship.
Or does it?
One side effect of this season's expanded playoffs is that finishing first in the division is not only unnecessary to qualify for the postseason, it comes with virtually no advantage. All three Central contenders are already huge mathematical favorites to earn one of the eight AL playoff berths, and MLB is reportedly considering whether to play most or all of the postseason at neutral sites to contain any risk of COVID infections.
"Well, I'll tell you this: I think every single person in our clubhouse wants to win the division," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said.
But Baldelli was less definitive when asked whether that desire would dictate how he manages down the stretch. If it's still nearly a dead heat in the final weekend, would he play his starters rather than rest them for the pressure-packed best-of-three first round?
"At certain points, you're going to have to make certain calls, as far as what the objective is," Baldelli said. "By the end of the season, if you're fortunate enough to still be playing good baseball, you'll factor in winning that day with keeping everybody healthy, and [getting] ready going forward."
Best case, of course: Win enough now that it won't be much of a race. "I think we can accomplish everything that we want to," Baldelli said, "while still not putting that ahead of literally every other thing."
Tortuga sticks around
