6: the number of home runs the pirates hit today in cincinnati, reflective of their urgency to win this particular game. 2 of the homers were by my pirate, neil walker. cutch: "today showed how bad we wanted to go home. we answered in a big way."

93: the actual number of wins the tigers clinched the division with (and may just finish with, unless verlander wins tomorrow), and the number of wins the pirates reached today to clinch homefield advantage for their wildcard game against cincinnati (i like the word). yes, that's right, the tigers and pirates have identical records going into the last day of the regular season.

1: one single playoff game for the pirates' first playoff appearance in 21 years. on tuesday it's win or go home.

47: the number of the pirates' chosen pitcher for that do or die game, francisco liriano, whom i well know from his days as a twin
47: the number of cincinnati's chosen pitcher for that do or die game, johnny cueto, because the pitcher they'd rather go with, mat latos, well dusty baker said his arm was "barking".

the magic month arrives tuesday.