The way it stands now, the Minnesota Twins are the second-ranked American League division winner, just one game behind the tied-for-first New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays with just three games left to play in the season. It's possible for the Twins to pull into first place if they win their remaining three games and the other teams lose theirs, but given recent play, that's very unlikely.

In ordinary ALDS play, the number one team hosts the wild card team, and the number two team hosts the number three team; already known to be the Texas Rangers. However, rules don't allow the first round of the play-offs to pit divisional opponents against each other. Since either the Yankees or Rays will be the wildcard, and since they're both from the AL East, the schedule is changed so the number one team will host the Rangers and the Twins will host the AL wildcard team.

This works no matter where the Twins are ranked. If the Twins sneak into first place in the AL, they'll host the wildcard team as is normal. Should they remain in second place, they'll host the wildcard team as the two teams from the AL East won't be allowed to play each other.

To speculate who will win the AL East takes just a glance at the schedules for each.

Tampa Bay is visiting Kansas City Royals for their last series. While the Royals just tarred the Twins for two games of a three game series, and they just beat the Rays last night, they are last in the AL Central, playing like .415 ball, and are 27 games behind the Twins, even after taking those two. It's likely the Rays will take one or two of the remaining games, if not get pumped up in their race against the Yankees and take the last three. I'd say the Rays are hotter than the Royals, in general, and specifically the Rays are still fighting for a division win.

The Yankees on the other hand are finishing their season against the Boston Red Sox. They're playing in Boston. The Yankees are coming off a day off, while Boston is returning from getting beat by the White Sox. But there's a long-standing rivalry between the Yankees and Boston, so you know Boston isn't going to roll over. In the series before last, the Yankees hosted Boston, and got swept. Sure, at the time Boston still had a shot at the wild card, but I think there's still more heat in these games than in the other AL games, so I'm giving the Yankees a harder stretch than the Rays. As such, it seems quite likely that the Yanks will win at least one less than the Rays.

There is a distinct possibility that there will be a tie in the AL East. We're quite familiar with the infamous game 163 having a couple played in Minnesota in the last few seasons. But they won't have to worry about that in the AL East as the Rays have the tie-breaker, having won 10 of the 18 games the two teams played together.

So the Yankees have to win their series, and the Rays have to lose theirs, for the Yankees to win the AL East division title, otherwise they're the wildcard. The Rays have the arguably easier pairing, so it's not unlikely they can pull off one more winning series. And while I wouldn't accuse the Yankees of tossing a game (cough, again, cough), either in their current series or a tie-breaker, they seem to have an edge over the Twins, especially in post-season play, and would probably want to try to take advantage of their Twins-beating history.

So, the Twins are likely to play the Yankees, as the Yankees are likely to become the wildcard team for the AL.

It would be outstanding if the Rays became the wildcard team, as they don't have quite the domination over the Twins that the Yankees seem to have. Then we can also hope for the Rangers to beat the Yankees, as then the AL Championship Series would be played at Minnesota, hosting the Rangers, whether the Twins would be in first or second place.

It would be sweeter if the Twins could take first place, the Yankees could be the wildcard, and the Twins beat 'em outright to then host either the Rays or the Rangers. I've already got my tickets, and I'm willing to sit through all of those games! Bring it on.

In the end, it will be what it will be, but this speculation and mental "what if" exercise is part of what makes baseball, and sports in general, fun to watch.