Here we are folks - game number 162. The Minnesota Twins play their final game of the 2005 season today in Minneapolis against the Detroit Tigers. Minnesota's 3-0 win over Detroit last night was win number 82, which guaranteed the Twins a winning record for the season. In today's final game, they'll look to close out the season with a sweep of the Tigers.

There's more to look forward to in today's game - especially as concerns starting pitcher Johan Santana. With Padres pitcher Jake Peavy being rested in preparation for the postseason, Santana is virtually guaranteed to be the first pitcher in team history to lead the majors in strikeouts. He has 229 on the season entering play today, with Peavy second at 216.

Santana will also aim to lead the American League in ERA. He is currently second in the league at 2.92 behind Kevin Millwood of the Indians, who has an ERA of 2.86. To lower his ERA below that of Millwood, he has to pitch at least 5-1/3 innings without giving up an earned run. Should he give up one earned run, he'd have to pitch at least 8-1/3 innings total giving up no more than that one earned run.

The game has started, so here we go....

UPDATE: One-two-three top-of-the-first, including a strikeout of Brandon Inge to add to his strikeout lead. Strikeouts: 230 / ERA: 2.91

UPDATE: Minnesota's starting lineup for today's season finale: Jason Tyner leading off and playing left field, Luis Rodriguez second and playing third base, then Joe Mauer at catcher, and Matthew LeCroy hitting cleanup as the designated hitter. He's followed by Michael Cuddyer (right field), Justin Morneau (first base), Lew Ford (center field), Luis Rivas (second base), and Jason Bartlett (shortstop).

UPDATE: Santana got some early run support thanks to Matthew LeCroy. Tyner and Rodriguez led off with back-to-back singles. Mauer reached on a fielder's choice, Tyner moved to third, Rodriguez out at second. LeCroy followed with a three-run homerun to left, putting Minnesota up 3-0. Cuddyer followed with a 5-3 groundout, and Morneau struckout to end the inning. End of the first, 3-0 Twins.

UPDATE: Santana struck out the side. Strikeouts of Marcus Thames, Carlos Pena, and Omar Infante. Strikeouts: 233 / ERA: 2.90

UPDATE: Lew Ford led off the bottom-of-the-second with a single, but Rivas flied out to center and Bartlett grounded into a 5-4-3 double-play. End of the second, Twins still lead 3-0.

UPDATE: No strikeouts in the third for Santana, but he got some help from his defense. Vance Wilson hit a chopper up the middle, but Bartlett was able to field and throw him out 6-3. John McDonald hit a line drive to right that Cuddyer caught on the run. Nook Logan fouled out to Morneau. Striketous: 233 / ERA: 2.89

UPDATE: Looking around baseball at the Wild Card races, White Sox lead Cleveland 3-0 in the fifth, while Boston and the Yankees are tied 0-0 in the second. In the National League, Houston leads the Cubbies 2-0, while Philadelphia leads Washington 4-0 in the sixth.

UPDATE: Twins go down in order in the third. Tyner grounded out to the pitcher 1-3, Rodriguez flied out to right, and Mauer grounded out to first. Mauer is virtually guaranteed to come up short now in his bid to hit .300 on the season. At the end of three, Twins lead 3-0.

UPDATE: How anyone can say Santana doesn't deserve another Cy Young is beyond me. After falling behind Granderson 3-0, Santana came back with three straight strikes. He followed it up by striking out both Inge and Shelton. For those of you playing along at home, that's seven K's through four perfect innings. Strikeouts: 236 / ERA: 2.87

UPDATE: After a tough first inning, Robertson has settled down for Detroit. He struckout LeCroy and Cuddyer and got Morneau to lineout to short. Twins lead 3-0 through four.

UPDATE: The perfect-game bid is gone and Santana's hopes of winning the ERA title were seriously damaged in the fifth. After getting Thames to ground out 5-3, Carlos Pena homered to deep center. Infante then grounded out 5-3, and Vance Wilson flied out to right to end the top-of-the-fifth. Santana is pretty much going to have to pitch a complete game now without giving up any more earned runs. Strikeouts: 236 / ERA: 2.90

UPDATE: The Twins got a little help from the Tigers in the fifth. Lew Ford led off with a double when the Tigers lost Ford's fly to left-center. Rivas followed with a bunt single down the first-base line when Pena fielded a ball he should have let roll foul. Bartlett struckout, but Rivas stole second on the called third strike. A base hit by Tyner to right scored Lew and moved Rivas to third. Rodriguez followed with a single to left, which scored Rivas and moved Tyner to second. Mauer flied out to right and Robertson hit LeCroy on the back foot, which loaded the bases with two outs, but Cuddyer flied out to right on a 3-1 pitch to end the threat. End of the fifth, Twins lead 5-1.

UPDATE: Scoring update in the Wild Card races. Chicago leads Cleveland in the seventh 3-1, while Boston leads New York in the fourth 1-0. Houston leads Chicago 3-2 in the fifth, and Philadelphia leads Washington 5-3 in the seventh.

UPDATE: Another scoreless inning for Santana. After striking out McDonald, he walked Nook Logan, but Granderson flied out to Tyner in deep left and Inge grounded into a 6-4 force at second. Striketouts: 237 / ERA: 2.89

UPDATE: Morneau and Ford each grounded out 5-3 before Rivas singled to center, but Bartlett flied out to center to end the inning. Through six, Twins lead 5-1.

UPDATE: Santana escapes a huge one. After giving up back-to-back singles to Shelton and Thames to open the inning, both moved up on a wild pitch to Pena. Santana won a nine-pitch battle with Pena with his ninth strikeout of the game. After issuing a four-pitch walk to Infante, Gardy came out to the mound, and it looked like Santana's day might be over, but he left Johan in, and Santana got Vance Wilson to ground into a 5-4-3 double-play. Strikeouts: 238 / ERA: 2.87

UPDATE: Tyner flied out to center, followed by Rodriguez's third single of the afternoon. Mauer then hit a liner that deflected off of pitcher Robertson. Inge snagged it in the air, flipped to McDonald at second, who threw over to first to double off Rivas and end the inning. Twins lead 5-1 through seven.

UPDATE: They've gone final in Cleveland - White Sox win 3-1. The season is over for the Indians, as Boston will win the AL Wild Card.

UPDATE: Jesse Crain replaced Santana to begin the eighth inning, meaning that Johan will fall short of winning the ERA title by 0.0154. Santana finishes the season with 238 strikeouts and an ERA of 2.87.

UPDATE: Tigers opened with three singles by McDonald, Logan, and Granderson. Inge grounded into a 6-4-3 double-play, but McDonald scored and Logan moved to third on the play. Chris Shelton followed then with a two-run homerun to left, cutting Minnesota's lead to 5-4. Crain has now been lifted with two outs in the eighth and Juan Rincon takes over.

UPDATE: Rincon struck out Thames on three pitches to end the inning. Twins lead now 5-4.

UPDATE: The final home attendance total for the Twins at the Metrodome this year is 2,034,243. It's the first time since 1993 that the Twins have had over 2 million fans in attendance. Corey and I account for 2 of those 2,034,243.

UPDATE: LeCroy walked to open the bottom-of-the-eighth, and Gardy sent Nick Punto on to pinch-run. Punto moved to second on a 5-3 groundout by Cuddyer. Tigers reliever Fernando Rodney should have picked Punto off of second, but his pickoff toss to second was well offline and sailed into center field, which allowed Punto to run all the way around and score. Morneau followed with a double to right, but Lew struckout and Rivas grounded out 6-3 to end the inning. Twins lead is now 6-4 at the end of the eighth, and for the final time this year, it's Joe Nathan Time in Minneapolis. Nathan is looking to pick up his 43rd save of the year.

UPDATE: Nathan struckout Pena and Infante, and then got Vance Wilson to fly out to Lew Ford in center to end the game and the season. Santana picks up his 16th win to finish 16-7 on the year with a 2.87 ERA. Nathan picks up his 43rd save on the year, which ties him for second in the American League with Mariano Rivera. Bob Wickman of the Indians finished at the top with 45. With the sweep of Detroit, Minnesota finishes the season at 83-79 - their fifth-straight winning season.

Things were tenuous in Houston, but with two on and two out in the ninth, Astros closer Brad Lidge got Jose Macias to line out to second to end the ballgame. Houston wins the NL Wild Card with a 6-4 victory over the Cubs. The 2005 postseason teams are now set. In the National League, Houston will face Atlanta, while San Diego will play St. Louis. In the American League, Boston will play Chicago, while New York will play the Angels. The Angels beat Texas, so if Boston holds on to beat the Yankees, the Angels will have home-field advantage in that series.

UPDATE: Boston leads 10-1 in the seventh over the Yankees at Fenway, and both teams have pulled almost all their starters. Only Jon Olerud and Trot Nixon are still in the lineup for Boston, while only Ruben Sierra remains in the lineup for New York. Barring a dramatic comeback by New York's benchwarmers, they'll be opening the postseason in Anaheim.