The Washington Nationals are bringing playoff baseball back the nation's capital for the first time since 1933 as NL East Division champions.

Congrats to my @buck_commander brother Adam LaRoche and the Washington Nationals on winning the NL east... Proud of ya bro!

— Jason_Aldean (@Jason_Aldean) October 2, 2012

Washington clinched the division when Atlanta lost 2-1 at Pittsburgh on Monday night. It's the Nats' first postseason appearance since moving to Washington from Montreal in 2004.

But there's still one big loser on the diamond in Washington these days. That would be "Teddy" -- as in Roosevelt. He is one of four racing presidents featured during the fourth inning of home games in Washington. "Teddy" is now 0-524 according to the "Let Teddy Win" blog following Monday's loss to "Tom" (Jefferson), "George" (Washington) and "Abe" (Lincoln). According to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who tried his best to inspire the "Rough Rider" to victory with a video posted during the third inning of Monday's 2-0 loss to the Phillies, Teddy is the victim of a "vast left-wing conspiracy by the Commie pinko libs in this town."



Alas, that pep talk was unsuccessful, as was this attempt by pro wrestler John Cena to make Teddy "strong and fast." Teddy, "looking fit as a bull moose," put up another stellar effort before falling during Monday's race. George Washington then edged him out with a head-first dive at the finish. Teddy won an exhibition race in 2010 but was disqualified for "unnecessary roughness." And Jayson Werth tried twice in 2011 to help Teddy win, once by having the bullpen help him tackle Teddy's opponents.

There was plenty of hype that Monday would be the night for Teddy's elusive victory as fans were given "Teddy" and "26" face decals and the hashtag #Teddyin2012 was appearing on Twitter.

Democrats and Republicans agree: It's Teddy's time to win. Perhaps tonight. #Teddyin 2012 twitter.com/WestWingReport…

— West Wing Reports (@WestWingReport) October 2, 2012

While Teddy didn't win his race, he was part of the Nationals’ postgame divisional championship celebration and got beered by one player.

The fans in Washington weren't the only ones celebrating Monday. They cheered in Detroit as the Tigers clinched their second-straight AL Central crown with a 6-3 victory at Kansas City.

Tigers get it done. Now...Go, Miggy, go!

— Jeff Daniels (@Jeff_Daniels) October 2, 2012

And they were on their feet in Oakland as "Moneyball" paid off again with the A's first postseason appearance since 2006. The A's defeated the Angels 4-3, and the AL West remains up for grabs.



At least one Bay Area coach took notice:

Congrats to the A”s! Outstanding job getting into the post season! It’s gonna be Fun!

— Mark Jackson (@JacksonMark13) October 2, 2012

Elsewhere:

Thanks to those five picks by the Bears on Monday night, Dallas quarterback Tony Romo was a trending topic on Twitter and continued to draw ire this morning.

Cowboys fans were, let's say, a little frustrated during the 34-18 loss.

Godamn Romo!!

— LeBron James (@KingJames) October 2, 2012

And the shots continued:

After the game,Tony Romo threw his helmet towards the sideline in disgust and that too was intercepted

— Men's Humor (@MensHumor) October 2, 2012

If you see any offbeat links from your favorite sports site or catchy tweets that might be of interest to others, pass them along to me @billsperos or to bsperos1@gmail.com.