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The Red Sox clinched their playoff berth with a victory over the Devil Rays last night, and then, according to the Globe's Gordon Edes, celebrated in style. No doubt the Yankees looked at the joy in the Boston clubhouse and thought "Wait until you have something to cheer about", but I wouldn't begrudge these guys their celebration - they were pretty much dead and buried not so long ago and have every right to be delighted to have a chance to play some more October baseball.

They still have a chance - albeit a slim one - to catch the Yankees and win the division, but that and other issues - such as who will be their first-round opponents - will be decided this week. All the talk right now is about the Twins, but Edes makes a very valid point as regards the Red Sox:

This much you should understand: No one wants a piece of these Sox in the playoffs. "People talk about the Red Sox having to face [Johan] Santana twice in the playoffs?" one scout said with a snort, referring to a possible first-round matchup between the Sox and Minnesota. "How about the Twins having to face Schilling twice? Good luck to them."

On a related topic, I found out today that our team made the playoffs too. Since we finished fourth in our division, we get to play the team which finished in the top spot, with a 15-1 record, but hey, it's a one-game playoff, and we don't have to face Schilling or Santana or in fact anybody twice, so anything could happen. Today's message therefore goes out both to our team and to the Red Sox: