WE'RE GONNA WIN, TWINS!: Congratulations are in order for the Minnesota Twins, the 2002 AL Central division champions, and the first team in the American League to qualify for a playoff berth. Having overcome near-contraction and a near-strike, the very small-market Twins outlasted the higher-revenue Indians and White Sox and the grossly mismanaged Royals and Tigers in order to earn the crown. Now I've been saying all year that a Twins' playoff appearance would be enough to make me happy, but think about it: does a Minnesota championship look any less likely now than it did in September of 1987, when the Twins had only four quality pitchers (Viola, Blyleven, Reardon, Berenguer) and fewer wins than they do now? (That year, incidentally, Game 1 of the ALCS fell on Erev Rosh Hashanah, while this year the Twins clinched on Erev Yom Kippur- and as we all know, Game 1 of the 1965 World Series fell on Yom Kippur as well, and that's why the Twins didn't face Sandy Koufax at Met Stadium that night.) I'm not saying the Twins will be World Champions, but I am saying that it wouldn't necessarily surprise me. Makes me wish I'd gone through with my idea, during the contraction crisis, to go to Vegas and bet $100 on a Twins championship.
At any rate, the Twins are in the playoffs, George Bush is President, Guns 'n' Roses is on MTV, and we're going to war with Iraq... are we sure it's 2002 and not that other palindromic year, 1991?