The Rundown: Yankees By The Numbers

With a 10-2 drubbing of the Rays on Sunday, the Yankees ended their most successful regular season in seven years. Most fans know the Bombers' win total (103), finish in the AL East (1), and number of years since their last division title (3). Let's throw in a few more numbers that help tell the whole story.

HOME WINS: 57
The Yankees finished the season a staggering 57-24 at home, the best record in the bigs. Had they been equally successful on the road, they would matched the great 1998 team's record of 114-48. The Yanks' debut in their new bandbox (er, stadium) wasn't just good, it was virtually unparalleled in baseball history. The only team to win as many games in their first year in a new stadium is (wouldn't you know) the Red Sox, who also won 57 in 1912, the first year of Fenway Park. People have scoffed at the new Yankee Stadium all year, but the Yanks have one of the biggest home-field advantages in the league.

YANKEES WITH 20+ HOME RUNS: 7
Teixeira, A-Rod, Swisher, Matsui, Cano, Damon, Posada -- all of them clubbed at least 20 longballs this season. Aided by the new Yankee Stadium jet stream? Sure. But the number is historic nonetheless, as only four teams in history have had seven players with 20 home runs: '96 Orioles, 2000 Blue Jays, '05 Rangers, and this year's Bombers. Had Derek Jeter blasted just two more homers, the Yankees would stand alone.

TOTAL YANKEE HOME RUNS: 244
No club in team history has hit as many. Bronx Bombers indeed.

WINS FOR C.C. SABATHIA: 19
The big fella proved he was the Yanks' bona fide ace when he posted an 11-2 record after the All-Star Break. Starting Wednesday, we'll see if he's was worth seven years and $161 million.

MARIANO RIVERA'S SAVE PERCENTAGE: .957 (44 for 46)
It's no longer a question that Mo is the best closer in baseball history. What's astounding is he's the best closer in baseball right now. Once again, Rivera's the Yankees' silver bullet heading into the postseason.

One more bonus number for you. Since the Tigers and Twins finished tied atop the AL Central, they have a one-game playoff Tuesday to decide who faces the Yanks in the ALDS. Why Tuesday? Because the Metrodome is home to both Twins and the NFL's Vikings, who host the Packers tonight on Monday Night Football.

Think about how improbable that is for a second. This is the ninth one-game playoff in MLB history, so the odds are 9 in 105 (start with first modern postseason in 1903, take away two years with no postseason). That game would have to played at a stadium that also houses an NFL team, and there are only three such stadiums -- Marlins and Dolphins at Land Shark Stadium, Twins and Vikings at the Metrodome, A's and Raiders at the Coliseum -- so the odds there are 3 in 30. Further, the football team would have to randomly be the team that's hosting Monday Night Football, a 1 in 32 chance.

Do the math, and the odds of this freak occurrence are roughly 3,725 to 1. C-3P0 couldn't have said it better himself. And when you add the fact that this is the Twins' last year in the Metrodome, so if this ever happened again they'd play on Monday? It's borderline Twilight Zone stuff.

It's an impossible series of coincidences come to life. And it's great for the Yankees, because the winner will have less than 24 hours before Game 1 at Yankee Stadium.

NEW YORK METS: Earlier today, word came that the Mets' brass was shaking up the coaching staff, though it appears that manager Jerry Manuel's job is safe. Me, I'd have purged the whole management structure, from father-son ownership combo Fred and Jeff Wilpon on down. Of course, with the Wilpons in charge, the sordid saga will likely continue.

Sordid saga. How else can you characterize a Mets' season that included a VP threatening to fight the whole Double A team, the GM subsequently taking potshots at the writer who uncovered the scandal, more than half the Opening Day starting lineup and rotation missing significant time to injuries, a horde of walk-off losses and an epic rant from a CBS Sports blogger to sum up the season?

Time to hit the links, guys. Just try not to blow out an ACL while on the course.

NEW YORK JETS: The Jets lost and the Giants won. But Gang Green can learn far more from its game.

Specifically, Mark Sanchez can learn a lot from the Jets' 24-10 loss to the Saints. Sanchez had been a world-beater in winning his first three starts, the first rookie quarterback in NFL history to lead his team to 3-0. The Jets were flying high, and Sanchez was the toast of New York.

But the NFL isn't a cakewalk. Even the best quarterbacks deal with adversity -- just ask Tom Brady. So when Sanchez personally gave the Saints 14 points with a fumble in the end zone and an interception that was returned 99 yards for a score, he was forced to shoulder the blame for a loss for the first time.

The Jets as a team have little to worry about. The defense continued to be among the NFL's biggest surprises holding Drew Brees and the explosive New Orleans offense to just 10 points. It is Sanchez, whose four turnovers were the difference between 4-0 and 3-1, who will have to go back to the drawing board and work on his mistakes. For a rookie quarterback, that's never a bad thing.

NEW YORK GIANTS: Ho-hum. That's the sum total of Big Blue's 27-16 win over the hapless Chiefs. Wins are nice, but beating the Chiefs doesn't prove anything about your team. So let's keep it brief. Big positives: the emergence of Steve Smith as an elite wide receiver and another solid game from Brandon Jacobs. Big negatives: Four dropped passes from Mario Manningham and a defense that allowed the Chiefs to convert four straight fourth downs in the final quarter and almost make a game of it. Big question mark: Eli Manning's bruised right heel.

NEW YORK RANGERS: Of the three New York-area NHL teams, only the Rangers have a win to their credit this season. That gives them the leg up here. Marian Gaborik, the prize free-agent signing in the offseason, scored for the second straight game in 5-2 win over the Ottawa Senators on Sunday. Equally impressive was the play of of Gaborik's linemates, Brandon Dubinsky and Vaclav Prospal, who combined for three goal and an assist in the victory. The more help Gaborik gets, the better.

COLUMBIA FOOTBALL: The Lions hadn't won their Ivy League opener since 2003. But that was before the rise of Millicent Olawale.

The senior and neuroscience and behavior major led a suddenly explosive offense that jumped on Princeton from the beginning. The defense followed suit, stifling the Tigers on the way to a 38-0 drubbing -- on the road, no less -- that instantly makes Columbia a contender for the Ivy League title.

At 2-1, with the ability to beat teams with his arm or his feet, Olawale is the real deal. More on him to come.