Well, at Least It Helps Marge Cut Down Cost of Champagne

For the first time in history, a major league baseball team won a division title without even knowing it.

The Cincinnati Reds found out Friday night that they had clinched the NL Central championship by virtue of baseball’s new tiebreaker system.

The clinching came Thursday night when the Dodgers lost to the San Diego Padres, 5-1. But it wasn’t until the Elias Sports Bureau, which keeps the major league statistics, figured out the formula that anyone else knew the Reds were champions.

Cincinnati clinched because:

--Other than Atlanta, which has already clinched, only Houston and one other team in the NL--either Colorado or the Dodgers--can finish with as few as 64 losses because the Dodgers and the Rockies play a three-game series next week.

--If Cincinnati, Houston and that other NL West team all finished with 64 losses, all three would qualify for the playoffs. Because a postseason spot wouldn’t be at stake, the NL Central champion would be decided on the basis of head-to-head record, not a one-game playoff. The Reds were 12-1 against the Astros this season. Houston would be the wild-card team.