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One team was silent for a decade, and the other team was silent for a century. But now both can't stop making noise.

They're the darlings of the 2008 season, and didn't we all predict a Cubs-Rays World Series before the season started?

The Cubs are trying to repeat their magic of 1908, and the Rays are creating some magic for the first time since their inception in 1998. Each team clinched a playoff berth in its home park Saturday.

Cubs manager Lou Piniella never could have imagined this a few years ago. Back then, Piniella was laboring through summer after summer of futility as Tampa Bay's manager, taking regular poundings from the powers of the American League East. Now that he's running the Cubs, he wants payback. He wants to be the bully.

"Look, Chicago is a major city. … This team here should dominate the National League Central the way the Yankees and Red Sox have dominated the American League," Piniella told reporters after the Cubs' clincher.

When addressing whether the Cubs were built to win the World Series, Piniella said that's the goal of every team. Naturally, he was asked if that was Tampa Bay's goal when he was in charge. "They were built to win the World Series in the month of April," he quipped. "They just didn't get it done."

October is another story. But before we get too far, the next step is determining a first-round opponent.

If the standings hold, the Cubs would host the Mets, who open play Sunday as the National League wild-card leader. That's enormously premature because the Mets begin play Sunday just a half-game behind the East-leading Phillies. In the wild-card race, the Mets are two games ahead of the Brewers, whose meltdown continues under new manager Dale Sveum.

The Rays, who lead Boston by 2½ games in the American League East, would play the Central-leading White Sox, currently 2½ games ahead of the Twins. The runner-up in the East would open against the Angels, whose clinching party preceded the Cubs' and Rays' by 10 days.

The Cubs, who own the NL's best record, seem to have home-field advantage wrapped up for the playoffs' first two rounds. The Rays would need to overtake the Angels for that honor in the AL. The teams are separated by 2½ games.

Thanks to another American League victory in the All-Star Game, the World Series again will open in the AL city. If it's a Cubs-Rays World Series -- hey, why not? -- Game 1 would be at The Trop. Unless, of course, Bud Selig favors a neutral site and opens the Series in Milwaukee.

Either way, a home-field advantage is significant for the Cubs and Rays, both of whom own their league's best home record, by far. The Cubs are 54-26 at Wrigley Field; the Rays are 57-23 in St. Pete.

This is Piniella's second season (and second division title) on the North Side. Last year, the Cubs were swept in the first round by Arizona, so they kept spending in the offseason (the big prize was Japanese outfielder Kosuke Fukudome, who started much better than he's finishing) and added pitchers Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin in a July trade with Oakland.

GAMES TO WATCH
• Red Sox at Blue Jays, 1:07 p.m. ET	Talk about it
• Brewers at Reds, 1:15 p.m. ET	Talk about it
• Mets at Braves, 1:35 p.m. ET	Talk about it
• Twins at Rays, 1:40 p.m. ET	Talk about it
• White Sox at Royals, 2:10 p.m. ET	Talk about it
• Cardinals at Cubs, 2:20 p.m. ET	Talk about it
• D-backs at Rockies, 3:05 p.m. ET	Talk about it
• Giants at Dodgers, 4:10 p.m. ET	Talk about it
• Phillies at Marlins, 4:10 p.m. ET	Talk about it

Changes from within altered the season, too. Ryan Dempster became a starter and an All-Star, Kerry Wood became a closer and an All-Star and Geovany Soto became a rookie catcher and an All-Star.

"There's no reason why our team here can't be in this position for a long time to come," Piniella said.

This is all new to Piniella's Tampa Bay successor, Joe Maddon, who guided the Rays to 101 and 96 losses in 2006 and 2007 and 92 wins so far this year. Unlike Piniella, Maddon isn't talking about dominating his league for years to come. Considering the Rays' low payroll and market size, he knows moments like this aren't routine.

"I had to get out there and hug everybody," Maddon told the St. Petersburg Times after the Rays' on-field celebration. "We did the appropriate hugging in the dugout, then we took it out on the field. I had to. I'm a hugger. And I'm a crier."

The Rays are a group of mostly young and homegrown players, although a key trade in November bolstered the roster when pitcher Matt Garza and shortstop Jason Bartlett arrived from Minnesota. Garza is one of five Rays starters who have 11 or more victories, and Bartlett anchors a defense that has committed the league's third-fewest errors.

The Tampa chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America voted Bartlett the team MVP over third baseman Evan Longoria and first baseman Carlos Pena.

No matter what happens from here, it'll remain a fairy-tale season for the Rays, who became the second team in history (the 1991 Braves were the first) to reach the playoffs just one year after posting the majors' worst record.

It's different for the Cubs, whose fan base is tired of simply getting to the postseason. Since they last won a World Series in 1908, the Cubs have reached the postseason 12 times and the World Series seven times, most recently in 1945.

Only once did they win a postseason series, and that came in 2003 under Dusty Baker. They beat the Braves in the opening round before falling to the Marlins in the NL Championship Series.

• No battle for first place is closer than Mets-Phillies in the NL East, but the accompanying story line could be the battle for the NL MVP award.

Philadelphia first baseman Ryan Howard, the league's leader in homers and RBIs, has forced himself into the MVP conversation in the past month. He has hit .369 with 11 homers and 31 RBIs since Aug. 27, and his strikeouts and low average aren't as much of a talking point anymore. For the Mets, third baseman David Wright and shortstop Jose Reyes have been in the dialogue, but first baseman Carlos Delgado is the guy who ignited the Mets' comeback after the firing of manager Willie Randolph.

Both teams are on the road to complete their weekend series -- the Mets' in Atlanta and the Phillies' in South Florida. Both clubs are home in the final week; the Mets host the Cubs and Marlins and the Phillies welcome the Braves and Nationals.

• The Brewers are 1-4 under Sveum, and CC Sabathia's only two losses have come since manager Ned Yost was fired. Management had hoped to jump-start the players with the Sveum-for-Yost move, but it has done no good so far.

The Brewers, who three weeks ago held a 5½-game lead in the wild-card race, now trail by 2½ games and continue their panicky quest Sunday in Cincinnati. They face Bronson Arroyo, who's 5-0 with a 1.45 ERA in his past six starts.

• Like the Brewers, the Twins are crumbling at the worst possible time. They've dropped 18 of 27 (including six of their past seven) and were forced to watch the Rays' on-field celebration Saturday after they lost 7-2.

"Congratulations to Tampa Bay," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire told reporters after the game. "But we've got to figure out how to get a ballgame here tomorrow, and then go home and see where we're at."

There is hope. On Tuesday, the Twins will begin a pivotal series against the White Sox in Minneapolis.

• One team that's not playoff-bound that was supposed to be is Detroit, and the December trade that landed the Tigers Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis made them an easy pick to win the AL Central, maybe the World Series.

But look at them now.

Cabrera has had a nice year, but the offense wasn't nearly as lethal as expected, and the pitching has been downright unacceptable. Nobody has been worse than Willis, who is 0-1 with an 8.82 ERA. Due $22 million in the next two seasons, Willis starts today at Cleveland, his second appearance since trying to get his act together in Class A.

• So long, Yankee Stadium. For the first time since 1993, the Yanks aren't playoff-bound, so the final Bronx cheer for the old yard is Sunday night. Andy Pettitte will be on the mound, and Jon Miller and Joe Morgan will be in the booth.

"If it had been a big game and [the Yankees] had gone ahead to the postseason, it wouldn't have been the last game. This clearly is the last game, period. That's it," Miller said. "So the history is all there. The last home run could happen … the last hit. Babe Ruth hit a home run in the first game at Yankee Stadium. Who's going to hit the last one?"

John Shea is the national baseball writer for the San Francisco Chronicle.