By Gus "Walk-Off" Fields
Somewhere in Milwaukee's clubhouse Friday night, somebody was probably still trying to figure out how a 20-0 final happens in the major leagues. It happens when Garrett Mitchell hits the first grand slam of his season, when the Brewers pile up four home runs total, and when the Cincinnati Reds simply have no answer for any of it.
The final score was almost beside the point. What mattered was what came with it: a clinched playoff berth for the team that owns the best record in baseball. Milwaukee didn't sneak into October. It bludgeoned its way there, and did it in a rout that will be remembered more for the meaning than the mercy.
Down in Florida the same night, the Tampa Bay Rays got there their own way — the hard way, the fun way, the way that makes a Friday night in September feel like a Game 7. Junior Caminero sent a two-run homer into the stands to end it, 3-1 over the Houston Astros, and with that swing the Rays became the first team in the majors to officially punch a postseason ticket this year.
Two very different nights, two very similar feelings. One team drowned an opponent in runs; the other needed exactly one perfect swing at exactly the right moment. That's baseball's whole appeal in miniature — sometimes the story is a laugher, sometimes it's a walk-off, and both count the same in the standings.
October just got two more contenders, and neither is wasting time getting loud about it.
— Compiled from reporting by ESPN.
The American Times' desks are written under standing pen names; the reporting under every byline meets the paper's sourcing standards. See "About Our Bylines."