Mauer is batting .34297520661157024 ... and the number goes on.

So a tie would be highly unlikely, because batting averages are rounded numbers.

For example, today Mauer is batting .343 and leading the majors in batting. To figure his batting average, you divide his hits (166) by the number of at-bats (484). Then, you round up or down for simplicity's sake.

A tie would occur if the players had the same number of hits and the same number of at-bats. This won't happen in the case of Morneau and Mauer, because Mauer takes more days off and gets walked more. Since Mauer has 77 walks, his number of at-bats decreases -- walks don't count as at-bats. Also, he gets fewer at-bats because he's played in 14 fewer games.

But they could end up first and second if Morneau has another few days like yesterday's 5-for-5 onslaught.

If Morneau has four at-bats a game for the final 12 games, he'll need 26 hits to finish in front of Mauer. That is, assuming Mauer's batting average holds steady. For Morneau to do that, he'd have to bat .542 -- he's batted .360 in the last seven days, while Mauer has batted .211.

Still, it's a long shot.

(Mathias Baden is the editor of the Jordan Independent. He can be reached at editor@jordannews.com.)