First!

Last night was, for Red Sox fans across New England, an appropriate way to celebrate the return of autumn. As the temperature finally fell and brought the crisp air into Boston lungs, the Red Sox looked sharp as they've ever been, dropping the Minnesota Twins 5-2. The win reduced the Sox's magic number to a surmountable single game, but with the Yankees winning in Baltimore as the final out was recorded at Fenway clinching looked like it was going to wait.

Just like the fans, who huddled down in the cold ballpark seats to watch the end of the Yankee game. Lucky for them and lucky for the fans at home, the Birds mounted quite a comeback, knotting the game at 9 with a bases-clearing triple from former Sox Jay Payton. In the bottom of the 10th, with the bases once again juiced, Melvin Mora dropped the bunt to end all bunts and the players and remaining fans partied like it was 1995 in the old ballpark.

After the stress and exhaustion of the last two weeks, seeing the Sox clinch the division title before the last game was a fantastic feeling. It is, to be certain, just a small step on the way to what I hope will be a World Series trophy, but it represents much more than that. It represents, for the first time in a long while, the ability to succeed without utter failure as a prerequisite. The Sox had held the lead in the East from April 18 on out, and despite the fact that the Yankees were as many as ten games out, nobody with half a brain once believed the Bombers were truly out if it. Not when they had an All-Star at almost every position.

So sure, the division crown isn't the World Series, but it sure is swell.