Finally. A season without a 163rd game in the American League (AL) Central is indeed possible.

With a win on Wednesday night, coupled with a Chicago White Sox loss in Oakland, the Minnesota Twins became the first team in Major League Baseball to clinch a division.

Considering that the past two seasons required a one-game playoff in order to determine the AL Central Champion, the Twins must feel like they wrapped up the division in July.

Despite missing All-Star first baseman Justin Morneau for half the season, the Twins have excelled and thrived at Target Field. The Twins are tied with the Yankees for the best home record in the American League at 51-25.

Can the Twins follow in the New York Yankees’ (’09) and St. Louis Cardinals’ (’06) footsteps by capturing a World Series title in its stadium’s first year of existence?

That remains to be seen, especially in the difficult American League.
However, Wednesday night’s game exemplified the Twins’ season since losing Morneau—the Twins are receiving contributions from the whole lineup.

With Joe Mauer sitting out a second consecutive game with a sore left knee, emergency starter Drew Butera had two hits. Almost every Twins starter contributed to the Twins’ 91st victory of the season.

Jim Thome, proving to be one of the best off-season acquisitions in baseball for his offensive boost to the Twins’ lineup in Morneau’s absence, hit his 25th home run of the season.

The Twins received RBI hits from Denard Span, Orlando Hudson, Delmon Young, Danny Valencia and Jose Morales, which is a great sign considering the health of the Twins heading into October is still questionable.

This year, however, the Twins won’t have to exert themselves in an extra game just to clinch a postseason spot and can instead focus on the postseason itself.

It may just be the missing piece to the Twins capturing their first World Series title since 1991.