Twins 6, White Sox 5
Chicago became the first AL team to clinch a spot in the playoffs, even though the White Sox lost.
Seattle was a big winner on the next-to-last Sunday of the regular season, beating Oakland 3-2 in the finale of a four-game series to retake a one-game lead over the Athletics in the AL West.
"We had a chance to do it on the field and fell apart, but we'll take it," Chicago first baseman Paul Konerko said after Sunday's 6-5, 10-inning loss to the Minnesota Twins. "We didn't win the division because of one day. It was won over six months."
Chicago clinched its first division title since 1993 and ended Cleveland's five-year reign as AL Central champions when Kansas City completed a 9-0 win over the Indians.
MARINERS 3, ATHLETICS 2: After losing the first three games of the series, Seattle took a 3-0 lead and hung on.
"If we would have gotten swept, we would have been down a game and then we'd have to rely on somebody else," first baseman John Olerud said. "Today was a game we had to win."
Seattle leads the AL West at 87-69, while Oakland is 85-69, one game in front of Cleveland (84-70) in the wild card race.
Run-scoring singles by Olerud in the first and Mike Cameron in the second put the Mariners ahead, and Carlos Guillen hit a leadoff homer in the fourth off Ariel Prieto (1-2).
ROYALS 9, INDIANS 0: Blake Stein (8-4) allowed four hits in seven innings, and Jose Santiago finished with two-hit relief.
The Indians headed home to play a unique day-night doubleheader Monday: Chicago in an afternoon makeup and Minnesota at night in a regularly scheduled night game — the first three-team doubleheader at the same ballpark since the St. Louis Cardinals beat the New York Giants 6-4 and lost to the Boston Braves 2-0 on Sept. 13, 1951, at Sportsman's Park.
Charles Nagy (2-7) gave up six runs, four hits and two walks in 2 2-3 innings.
YANKEES 6, TIGERS 3: At Yankee Stadium, Andy Pettitte (19-8) became the first pitcher to win 100 games with the Yankees since Ron Guidry, and Tino Martinez homered twice as New York won for just the third time in 11 games.
The Yankees have a 5 1/2-game lead and cut their magic number for winning the AL East to three over second-place Toronto.
DEVIL RAYS 6, BLUE JAYS 0: Rookie Travis Harper (1-2), making his fourth major league start, pitched a two-hitter at SkyDome for his first big league win.
John Flaherty hit a three-run homer for the Devil Rays, just 4-17 in September.Steve Trachsel (8-14) allowed two runs and eight hits in seven innings.
ORIOLES 1, RED SOX 0: Mike Mussina (10-15) tied his career high with 15 strikeouts, allowing five hits in seven innings at Fenway Park and walking none. Boston is five games back in the wild card race and seven games behind in the AL East.
ANGELS 9, RANGERS 2: Ramon Ortiz (7-6) pitched a five-hitter at Texas for his second complete game of the season.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
METS 3, PHILLIES 2: Their September swoon behind them, the New York Mets are one step away from the postseason.
Todd Zeile and Timo Perez homered to back Glendon Rusch, and the New York Mets clinched no worse than a tie for the NL wild card berth with a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday.
New York, trying to make the playoffs for the second straight year, remained six games ahead of Arizona and Los Angeles in the loss column and needs just one more win — or a Diamondbacks and Dodgers defeat — to ensure a postseason berth.
The Mets, who lost 13 of 20 at the start of September, have won three straight for the first time since Sept. 12-14 and just the second time since winning five in a row from Aug. 9-13. They return home for their final six games, against Atlanta and Montreal.
BRAVES 14, EXPOS 5: Javier Lopez hit a three-run homer and visiting Atlanta had 21 hits to lower its magic number for clinching the NL East to four.
Andy Ashby (12-12) won his fourth straight start as the Braves, seeking their ninth straight division title, set season highs for runs and hits.
DODGERS 1, PADRES 0: Chan Ho Park allowed two hits and struck out 13 over eight innings and Shawn Green scored on a wild pitch from Matt Clement (13-16) at Dodger Stadium.
DIAMONDBACKS 8, GIANTS 3: Matt Williams hit a grand slam in a seven-run second inning against Livan Hernandez (16-11), and Arizona staved off elimination in the NL wild card race.
REDS 4, ASTROS 3: Chris Stynes hit a two-run homer off Octavio Dotel (3-6) as host Cincinnati scored three runs in the ninth to beat Houston.
BREWERS 8, PIRATES 5: Jeromy Burnitz hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth as Milwaukee rallied from four runs down for the second straight game to beat Pittsburgh.
CUBS 10, CARDINALS 5: Rookie Corey Patterson hit an inside the park homer in the seventh and Chicago overcame Will Clark's grand slam and five RBIs at Wrigley Field.
ROCKIES 9, MARLINS 3: Todd Helton hit his 38th homer and also stole home as Colorado avoided a three-game sweep at Coors Field. Helton went 3-for-5, raising his major league-leading average to .376.