The other tie possibility got a little closer last night, as the White Sox got creamed by the Yankees while the Twins staged an improbable comeback in Tampa.

For once the Rays scored a bunch, with Longoria hitting three home runs. But the Twins rallied for five in the ninth to win 11-8. The big hit was an improbable double by Adam Everett, of all people, after he had faked a bunt. Bremer went nuts on Extra Innings when that happened.

Minnesota is now 1 1/2 behind the Sox with three to play at home against Chicago. A tie is a real possibility.

Tie Scenario fans might want to have a look at the current state of the presidential election projections. Short version: if Obama loses New Hampshire but wins the other states that Kerry won (all very plausible), and then adds Iowa, New Mexico, and Colorado (not far-fetched), then the electoral vote is a tie.

Hm, I guess they have a one-game play-off or something. They don't flip a coin, do they?

As long as there are no recount challenges, the tie goes to the Congress. The House elects the president, and the Senate elects the VP.

I believe voting in the House is not by representative, but by state. So the party that hold the majority in reps may not have a majority in states.

Yeah, I knew that, I was kidding.

It is indeed by state, but the Democrats are almost certain to control most states. In that sense, the Massive Tie is good for Obama.

Nate Silver has been blogging about this, by the way. It must be something about baseball stats that makes these tie scenarios attractive to aficionados.

Yes, I've been reading Silver's site, 538 to see how the race is going.

Are you a lover of baseball oddities? Sure you are.

The White Sox have a chance to become the first team in 43 years to play four different teams on four consecutive days.

How's that work? The White Sox host Cleveland on the last day of the regular season, Sunday, Sept. 28. If Minnesota is within a half-game of the White Sox at the conclusion of play, Chicago will be forced to host a makeup game with Detroit on Monday the 29th. If the result of that game forces a tie for the AL Central, Chicago will host Minnesota in a one-game playoff on Tuesday the 30th. And if the White Sox win that game and MLB decides that their division series should start on Wednesday rather than Thursday, they'll fly to either Tampa Bay or Boston for the fourth game in the streak.

The last time a team played four different teams on four consecutive days was in 1965 by the Cleveland Indians (9/5 at Baltimore, 9/6 hosted Washington for a doubleheader, 9/7 at Chicago, 9/8 hosted Boston).

The last time a team pulled this feat in only four games was in 1929 by the Philadelphia Phillies (8/24 hosted Cubs, 8/25 at Brooklyn, 8/26 hosted St. Louis, 8/27 hosted Pittsburgh).

Kudos as always to Retrosheet.

That is so cool.

Back to the electoral college: that tie scenario might not get to the Congress. A few states will split their electoral votes to avoid a tie, and Nebraska is one of them. Obama has a team trying to capture the Omaha congressional district even if he loses the state--which is very likely. A win in that district would break that electoral tie 270-268.