Tigers clinch, Cabrera closes in on Triple Crown

Tigers clinch, Cabrera closes in on Triple Crown

The game was doubly significant:

Team Importance: the Tigers have won their division. The White Sox will watch the post-season on TV with the rest of us.

Individual importance: With a homer and three other hits, Cabrera is now in the catbird's seat for the Triple Crown. With two games to play, he's leading in batting by .004, in HRs by one and in RBI by a comfortable 10. On the other hand, super-rookie Mike Trout is not conceding the batting championship by any means. He also had four hits last night.

Oakland's win over the Rangers means that all five AL post-season teams have been determined, but only the Tigers have nailed down a specific spot, although they have the worst record of the five, and even have a worse record than two teams which missed the playoffs. In the other two divisions there is still a fierce battle to see which teams will be the division winners and which will be wild cards.

Every spot is set in the NL except the second wild card position. The Dodgers still have a remote chance to tie the Cards for that spot, but the "magic number" is 1, so they have no room for error. They have only about a 3% chance of making the post-season.