Somebody has to win it ... or do they?
The American League Central has a couple of options.
One is that the next victory by the White Sox or the Twins secures the division title.
The only problem with that is neither of these teams figures to win again until maybe spring training.
Oh, wait, the Sox and the Twins could play each other in a tiebreaker Tuesday - heck, that probably would be rained out.
The other option is for the division's five teams to vote to determine who should represent them in the playoffs.
If any justice remains in the world, the Indians or the Royals would be elected.
Ah, but the way the standings stoop, the Sox and the Twins are the only teams still eligible for postseason play.
No wonder 36,031 fans were booing Saturday night in Comiskey Park.
"Minnesota has given us a chance to pull away and we haven't," said Javier Vazquez, the Sox' losing pitcher in an ignominious 12-6 loss to Cleveland.
The division-leading Twins, a 4-2 loser to Kansas City earlier in the day, appear more than willing to surrender their half-game lead over the second-place Sox.
Yet, for the second straight night the Sox insisted on being too proud to accept charity, though not too proud to yield a combined 23 runs to the Indians.
It should have been obvious by the second inning that the Sox weren't destined to win this game. Mere moments after the Royals' victory at Minnesota went up on the scoreboard, Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski grounded into a double play.
That's the same A.J. Pierzynski who had a little dispute on the mound with Vazquez during Cleveland's 6-run fifth inning. "I'm not going to talk about it," Vazquez said. "It's between me and A.J."
Doesn't matter anyway, does it? Not on a team that has had more internal conflict recently than external competitiveness.
The offense went up against somebody with a 1-3 record and 5.96 earned run average - Jack Zachson, Zach Jackson or something like that - and barely touched him for 7 innings.
Most distressing was that the crowd seemed to expect more of the Sox than the Sox did of themselves.
Fans booed every time a reliever gave up a single to the first batter he faced - it happened a remarkable four times.
Then they booed more Indians hits and Sox misses.
(Just to clarify, it isn't a good thing when fans bring more passion to the ballpark than players appear to.)
Anyway, most startling is that the Sox remain in contention for the postseason. They would have to win a makeup game with Detroit on Monday and possibly a playoff with Minnesota on Tuesday -
But that brings us back to the sticky proposition of having to actually win a game, much less two.
"We're so lucky," Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said of still being alive in the division crawl. "I don't think (the players) realize how lucky we are. Hopefully we'll play better (today)."
Hope is all the Sox have, and it's running out. But the same could be said of the Twins, so who knows?
"I told you it would go to the last game," Guillen said before adding, "Now we have to play another stupid game (Monday)."
At least the Sox still have options, whether they deserve them or not.
mimrem@dailyherald.com