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The 2009 American League Central tie-breaker game was a one-game extension to Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2009 regular season, played between the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins to determine the champion of the American League's (AL) Central Division. It was played at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on October 6, 2009. The Twins won the game 6–5 in extra innings and advanced to the 2009 AL Division Series where they were swept by the New York Yankees; the Tigers failed to qualify for the postseason. A tie-breaker was necessary after both teams finished the season with identical win–loss records of 86–76. The Twins, who had won the regular season series against the Tigers, 11 games to 7, were thus awarded home field due to a rules change prior to the 2009 season. It was the third tie-breaker played in MLB from 2007–2009. It was also the second consecutive tiebreaker for the AL Central title after 2008, when the Chicago White Sox defeated the Twins to win the division. In baseball statistics tie-breakers are counted as the 163rd regular season game played by both teams and all events in the game are added to regular season statistics. This was the Twins' final regular season game at the Metrodome as the team moved to Target Field for the 2010 season. The tie-breaker was later named the Best Regular-Season Game of the Decade by ''Sports Illustrated''. ==Background== The Tigers led the AL Central for periods at the start of the season in April, ultimately tying for the lead on May 10 and taking the lead outright on May 16. The Tigers held at least a share of the divisional lead from then onwards, holding their largest lead of 7 games on September 6.〔 Although the Tigers went 16–12 in September, their second-best month by winning percentage in 2009, they won just 1 of 4 games in October. The Twins went 16–11 and 4–0, respectively, over this same stretch to tie the Tigers for the divisional lead after the 162-game regular season.〔 More broadly, the Tigers were 48–39 over the first half of the season while the Twins were 45–44 but the Twins came back in the second half going 41–32 leading up to the tie-breaker while the Tigers went 38–37 over the same span.〔〔 The Twins won 11 of the two team's 18 match-ups that season prior to the tie-breaker.〔 This late season competition for the AL Central title included a 4-game series between the two teams from September 29 to October 2. The series, played at the Tigers' home field Comerica Park, started with a day-night doubleheader caused by a rainout the night before when the series was scheduled to start. The final game of the series featured moments of contention between the two teams. In the third inning, Nate Robertson hit Denard Span. Minnesota starter Scott Baker hit Marcus Thames with a pitch the next inning. Thames responded by sliding hard into second base to break up a potential double play that inning.〔 Twins' reliever Jose Mijares then threw behind the Tigers' Adam Everett in the eighth inning.〔 Umpire Angel Hernandez warned Mijares and the Tigers bench, Tigers' manager Jim Leyland argued with Hernandez, and he was ejected.〔 Despite the warning Minnesota's Delmon Young was hit in the knee with the first pitch in the ninth inning by Jeremy Bonderman. Bonderman was immediately ejected as was Tigers' catcher Gerald Laird who argued with Hernandez and the benches cleared, though there was no brawl.〔 Bonderman was suspended for three games, and Tigers' hitting coach Lloyd McClendon—who had been acting as manager following Leyland's ejection—was suspended for a game. McClendon, Leyland, and Laird were all fined. Ultimately, the four-game series was split with two wins for each team, and the Tigers maintained a two-game lead with only three games remaining for each club. The Tigers lost two of their next three games to the Chicago White Sox, whereas the Twins swept the Kansas City Royals in a three-game set leaving both teams tied with an 86–76 record.〔〔 A one-game playoff would decide the winner of the Central division while the loser would be eliminated from playoff contention. Prior to the 2009 season, home field advantage in a tiebreaker game was decided by a series of coin tosses held towards the end of the regular season that would decide the home teams of all possible one-game playoffs. A rule change following the 2008 season altered this process, leaving the site determined on a series of performance-based criteria beginning with the head-to-head record between the two teams that were tied. Therefore, the Twins took home-field advantage in this game, by virtue of winning the season series against the Tigers 11–7. The game was the third MLB tie-breaker in three seasons, a record number for the league. While October 5 had been the original scheduled date for a potential tiebreaker game, a conflict with a ''Monday Night Football'' game between the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings being played at the Metrodome that night led to the baseball game being moved to the following day. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「2009 American League Central tie-breaker game」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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