Hey, just so you know ... this post is now about 15 years and 6 months old. Please keep that in mind as it very well may contain broken links and/or outdated information.

It didn’t happen quite the way they it wanted to, but I suspect they’re not going to complain.

With the Red Sox loss to the Yankees last night, the Tampa Bay Rays clinched their first ever American League East division title. After finishing dead last last year at 66-96 and never having won more than 70 games in their entire existence, wining the division and having a 96-64 record is an amazing accomplishment. Not to mention this is the first time since 1997 that a team other than Boston or New York has won the AL East. Wow.

The magic number to clinch had been at 1 for the past few days, ever since the Rays swept Baltimore in four games earlier this week (including their first ever double-header double-win). But then they just couldn’t win against the Tigers, and the Indians weren’t helping out by losing to Boston. So it’s unfortunate (to me anyway) that it was the Yankees that ended up helping out, but the divisional title is the divisional title. With only two games left in the season that was cutting it a little close …

So, bring on the Twins or White Sox … GO RAYS!