2008 American League Central tie-breaker game

The 2008 American League Central tiebreaker took place on September 30, 2008 after both the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox finished the season with identical records of 88-74. Chicago defeated Minnesota 1-0 to advance to the 2008 American League Division Series against the Tampa Bay Rays. It was the first American League one-game playoff since 1995 when the Seattle Mariners beat the California Angels to win the American League West. The White Sox had won home field advantage during a late-season coinflip. The game was sold out, and was attended by 40,354 fans.

Background

The White Sox and the Twins were locked in a tight pennant race throughout the regular season. Eventually, after the Twins played their last game on September 28, they were ahead of the White Sox by half a game, but the Sox had a game in hand.The White Sox had to win that game over the already-eliminated Detroit Tigers. The game was rained out on September 13 and was unable to be made up before the regular season ended. With no spare dates, the game was decided that it would only have been made up if it had meaning to the playoff race, on the day after the season ended. If Chicago won, the extra playoff would be necessary. If Detroit won, Minnesota would have won the division by 1 full game. As it turned out, Chicago won 8-2 and the one-game playoff became necessary.

The starting pitchers were Nick Blackburn for the Twins and John Danks for the White Sox. The game was televised nationally from U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago on TBS and announced by Dick Stockton, Ron Darling and Harold Reynolds and broadcast on the radio on ESPN Radio and announced by Dan Shulman and Dave "Soup" Campbell.

Game summary

For most of the game both pitchers played well, giving up no runs and only three hits through the first 6 innings. White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski alertly blocked a runner in the fifth inning to prevent a Minnesota run from scoring. The White Sox scored the first (and as it turned out, only) run of the game in the bottom of the 7th when leadoff batter Jim Thome hit a towering home run to center field off Blackburn for the 1-0 lead. Danks was outstanding, pitching 8 shutout innings while surrendering just 2 hits while walking 3 and striking out 4. Blackburn was also impressive going 6 1/3 innings giving up just the Thome home run, 4 hits, 3 walks and striking out 3. White Sox closer Bobby Jenks pitched a perfect ninth inning for the save, that was punctuated by a great diving catch by Brian Anderson in center field to end the game.

Line score

Linescore
Road=Minnesota|RoadAbr=MIN
R1=0|R2=0|R3=0|R4=0|R5=0|R6=0|R7=0|R8=0|R9=0|RR=0|RH=2|RE=0
Home=Chicago|HomeAbr=CWS
H1=0|H2=0|H3=0|H4=0|H5=0|H6=0|H7=1|H8=0|H9=x|HR=1|HH=5|HE=0
RSP=Nick Blackburn|HSP=John Danks
WP=John Danks (12-9) |LP=Nick Blackburn (11-11) |SV=Bobby Jenks (30)
RoadHR=|HomeHR= Jim Thome (34)|