Michael Young, hero of Cleveland

Thank you, Michael Young! Because of your two-out, two-run, ninth-inning triple in last week's All-Star Game, the Indians still have a chance to host Game 7 of the World Series!

And to think, we thought the second-worst defense in the AL had already doomed our chances. Or the league's third-worst starting pitching. Here we thought the Detroit Tigers' 108-win pace had already finished us off. Or maybe it was Jason Johnson.

Whatever reason we Clevelanders had for crossing Game 7 of the World Series at Jacobs Field off our to-do lists, Michael Young has erased it. Thanks to Michael Young's triple and the American League's 3-2 All-Star Game victory, the AL champion will have home-field advantage in the World Series this year.

It's not only Michael Young giving us hope, either. Nope, the Indians still have a 5.4% chance of making the playoffs at this exact moment. And they've got a .7% chance of winning it all! It probably would have been more like a .3% chance of winning it all had it not been for Michael Young. After all, the team with the home-field advantage has won 17 out of the last 20 World Series. Heck, a 5.4% chance of making the playoffs is pretty good for a Cleveland team at any time during any season. Consider -- in this, their 106th season of playing baseball, the Tribe has made the postseason nine times. So pick any Indians season from history at random and you have an 8.4% chance of picking a playoff team. This year's edition of bumblers has as good a chance as any Tribe team of making it!

Thank you so much, Michael Young! And take that, Trevor Hoffman. You gave up Michael Young's triple, and that's what you get for staying in San Diego instead of coming here. NO GAME 7 OF THE WORLD SERIES AT PETCO PARK FOR YOU!!!!!!

So circle Saturday, Oct. 30 on your calendar, not for the big Ohio State at Iowa nationally televised football game, but for Game 7 of the World Series which still can be played at Jacobs Field!