It all comes down to this...

Pick any metaphor you want-- it's pretty simple: the Twins have six games left this year, they're 2.5 games out, and they're hosting the White Sox for three games starting tomorrow.

A sweep is essentially necessary. Two out of three wouldn't be the end, but they'd be in dire straits. One win and they're out, regardless of what the math would say. No wins and not even math would argue.

We've been looking forward to this series since the beginning of June. We've had this circled on the calendar for three and a half months, thinking we'd be watching the Twins toast champagne as the White Sox departed the Metrodome. The situation isn't quite what we expected, but the gravity is no less.

A pretty horrible stretch of baseball has put the Twins in this position. But they can right all that and make it a distant memory with six good games of baseball to close the season, and they'll have the chance to do it right at home in Minnesota.