We're Number One Two!

The logical part of Bostonist's brain understands why it is OK not to have a one-game playoff with the Yankees to determine who is the champion of the AL East: No matter who wins, both teams will be in the playoffs, and fighting over who gets to play Anaheim and who gets to play the White Sox is like, um . . . metaphors fail us; it's obviously dumb. But baseball is not logical - Theo Epstein and Bill James notwithstanding, baseball is a hell of a lot more like religion than like science. And for the religious baseball fan, nothing is more important than bragging rights - all the more so when the bragging rights involve New York and Boston. So what to do? Why not call a spade a spade and crown the Sox and Yankees co-division champions? If baseball can make a rule that says that the Yanks' one-game edge in the season series against the Sox gives them first place, why not a rule that lets the two teams share the spot? Wouldn't that allow the sale of more T-shirts and hats, generating more revenue, which is really what baseball is all about? Whatever - we can happily call the Sox the AL East champs, the record books will, hopefully, put an asterisk next to any mention of the Yankees' eight consecutive division titles, and now it's off to Chicago.