Tigers sitting pretty amid tight AL races

• AL races tight to the finish
• The Tigers hold a three-game lead over the White Sox in the AL Central
• The Orioles, Yankees clinched when the Rangers won

Minneapolis -- Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland, with a cigarette in one hand and a remote control in the other, yelled in sheer joy the moment the Chicago White Sox lost to the Tampa Bay Rays, while his players erupted.

The Tigers might have the seventh-best record in the American League, but in this wacky season they find themselves in the best position of any team in their league.

No AL team had clinched a division title through Sunday, but the Tigers have a magic number of one to win the Central after beating the Minnesota Twins. The Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees are tied atop the East, with the Rays alive for a wild card. The West has become as turbulent as a plane ride over the Rockies, with the Oakland Athletics two games behind the Texas Rangers and the Los Angeles Angels barely alive for at least a wild-card berth.

"This is wild, ain't it?" Leyland said.

Where else could you have one player delay three celebrations with one swing of the bat Sunday? Right fielder Torii Hunter's two-out, two-run double in the ninth inning gave the Angels a comeback win vs. the Rangers in the first game of a doubleheader, preventing the Rangers, Yankees and Orioles from earning at least a wild-card spot until the Rangers won 8-7 in the nightcap.

And baseball's new playoff format has created managerial havoc. Teams such as the Yankees might be forced to make thorny pitching decisions, such as \deciding whether to use ace CC Sabathia for a one-game playoff to decide the division, save him for the one-game wild-card round or, more hopefully, a division series opener.

"Those are huge decisions," Leyland said. "To me, you've got to do everything you can to win the division. I would pitch (my ace)."