It happened in the middle of the night.
The Boston Red Sox were airborne, heading from Baltimore to Cincinnati. Maybe they exchanged a few high-fives somewhere over West Virginia. Or maybe they just slept through it. At least they will have something to toast at dinner on their night off Thursday.
But the champagne-and-beer celebration, the one where corks fly across a room and players break out designer ski goggles? That will wait, as it should, for another time and place.
It's not that clinching a playoff berth -- as the Red Sox did Wednesday night with the combination of their 9-0 pounding of the Baltimore Orioles and the Los Angeles Angels' 6-5 loss to the Cleveland Indians -- isn't a notable accomplishment.