Race to the Playoffs: 10/3

On the final day of the regular season, Miguel Cabrera locked up a Triple Crown, Buster Posey won the NL batting title, Fernando Rodney set the ERA record, and a team finished a shocking run to the top of a division no one thought they'd win.

>>> The most thrilling game of the day was the winner-take-all deathmatch between the Oakland Athletics and the Texas Rangers for the AL West crown. The Rangers chased A's starter A.J. Griffin from the game with a five-run third, but the A's returned the favor against Ryan Dempster in the fourth. With two outs in the inning and two runners on, Yoenis Cespedes lofted a lazy fly ball to shallow center that Josh Hamilton whiffed, allowing Oakland to take a 7-5 lead they would never relinquish. Their bullpen was once again dominant and the offense tacked on enough runs to make the final score almost laughable: 12-5. The A's, 13 games back on June 30, five back with nine to play, swept the mighty Rangers out of first place and improbably won the AL West. Oakland will face the Detroit Tigers in an intriguing five-game series.

>>> The Rangers led their division for almost the whole season but finally relinquished their lead on the worst possible day. After playing roughly .500 baseball for the past month, they're now faced with a win-or-go-home scenario as a wild card team. They will host the Baltimore Orioles on Friday with the pitching matchup likely to be Yu Darvish against Joe Saunders.

>>> The winner of that game will advance to the ALDS to face the New York Yankees, who clobbered the Pawtucket Boston Red Sox 14-2 behind two home runs each from the molten-hot Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson. The win clinched the AL East and home field advantage for New York. Without the need to play any tiebreakers, their rotation is lined up to face either the Orioles or the Rangers on Sunday with C.C. Sabathia ready for Game 1.

>>> In the National League, the only thing left to determine was home field advantage, which the Washington Nationals clinched by defeating Cliff Lee and the Phillies. They will face the winner of Friday's one-game playoff between the Atlanta Braves and the visiting St. Louis Cardinals. The pitching matchup in that game will be Kris Medlen against Kyle Lohse. The Cincinnati Reds, meanwhile, will face the San Francisco Giants in the other NLDS matchup when Johnny Cueto faces off against Matt Cain in Game 1.

The first round of the postseason:

Yankees vs Orioles/Rangers
Athletics vs Tigers
Nationals vs Cardinals/Braves
Reds vs Giants

And away we go.