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• Photo gallery: The Dome show

Editor's note: Baseball at the Metrodome received an eleventh-hour reprieve when the Twins made the playoffs Tuesday night, but no matter how far they go, the stay of execution won't last past November.

If it were a ballplayer, the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, at 27 years old, would be in the midst of its athletic peak. But its seeming youth has faded; it is Major League Baseball's seventh-oldest stadium. And when you're more reminiscent of an office building -- in Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona's eyes, anyway -- than an iconic classic like Wrigley Field or Fenway Park, it means your days are numbered. In a digital age in which ballparks are put to pasture faster than ever, the Dome is all but done in The Show.

For fans itching to catch some arena baseball before it's too late, the Twins' final homestand is Friday through Sunday against the Royals. The Twins enter Friday's game just two games behind the Tigers in the American League Central. If the teams end up tied, Minnesota will host a tiebreaker. But the game can't be Monday night, when MLB traditionally schedules one-game playoffs, because the Vikings host the Packers in an NFC North grudge match of epic proportions, pitting Minnesota QB and bitter divorcé Brett Favre against his former flame from across the Mississippi.

The NFL has refused to consider flipping the "Monday Night Football" game to Green Bay and the Nov. 1 Vikings-Packers game to the Dome, so if the Twins and Tigers do end up tied, and MLB is left scrambling to figure out how to accommodate the playoff, consider it a fitting conclusion to the legacy of second-class citizenship for baseball in the Dome.

It wouldn't be the first time the Twins' pennant push was affected by a football game. The Oct. 2, 2004, Twins game versus the Indians was suspended after the 11th inning because the Metrodome had to be reconfigured in preparation for the University of Minnesota's football game later that night. (The gridiron Golden Gophers started the exodus from the Dome last fall and inaugurated their new digs, TCF Bank Stadium, with a 20-13 victory over Air Force on Sept. 12.)

Whether they sneak into the playoffs or not, the Twins will commemorate their 28th season at the Hump Dome with a Fan Appreciation Weekend, culminating in Sunday's postgame celebration, which will include the unveiling of the All-Metrodome team. Then everyone will bid the big Baggie goodbye, if not good riddance.

And not a minute too soon for nearly everyone with an interest in Major League Baseball, in general, and the Twins, in particular.

"We won't be sad to see it go," said Ben Guill, 29, a Twins fan and Vikings season-ticket holder who bartends at Town Hall Brewery, a popular bar just a few blocks down Washington Avenue from the Metrodome.

Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen was, shockingly, less euphemistic in his assessment.

"There aren't a lot of good memories in this place for me. Even when I was playing, there were no good memories. I'm glad this is the last time we come to this place," he told the Chicago Tribune during the ChiSox's final road trip to the Dome.

Even the Metrodome itself, if one can suspend disbelief and imagine that its artificially inflated body has a soul, seems to be looking forward to its retirement; banners counting down until Target Field opens next year span the upper-deck facade from left field to center, gleefully anticipating such glories as "farmer-tanned vendors" and "mustard-flavored lip balm."

In a recent Sports Illustrated survey of 380 major leaguers, the Metrodump was the only MLB stadium not to garner a single vote for favorite ballpark to play in. (Although, to be fair, it should be noted that players weren't allowed to vote for their home fields.)

In a corresponding poll for worst stadium to play in, the Dome contended for the "honor" with its multipurpose brethren -- Miami's Land Shark Stadium, home to the Dolphins and Hurricanes as well as the Marlins, and the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, which hosts the Raiders and the A's -- ultimately tying for second with Land Shark with 10 percent of the vote, just behind the Coliseum's 11 percent.

Nonetheless, faithful Twins fans do have a fondness, if not a love, for the Dome. After all, the Twins won World Series titles in 1987 and 1991 largely because of their home-field advantage, going a perfect 8-0 at the Metrodome, including Game 7 triumphs against the Cardinals and Braves, respectively. Longtime Twins manager Tom Kelly presided over both championships during his tenure from 1986 to 2001.

"I think for the fans in the Midwest, especially Minneapolis/St. Paul, a lot of people didn't like going indoors, but overall, being able to win two World Series in that building, it's hard to argue against that," Kelly, now a special assistant to Twins GM Bill Smith, said in a phone interview.

Perhaps the best aspect of the fan experience is that the Metrodome is widely acknowledged as one of the loudest venues in pro sports. The roof's amplifying effect can provide a real home-field boost, making it tough for opposing quarterbacks to communicate with teammates at the line of scrimmage.

Unlike its multipurpose counterparts in Miami and Oakland, the "Thunderdome" actually stays loud for baseball games because the seats are so close to the action, thanks to the cozy confines necessitated by blowing up a balloon to enclose the playing surface. Decibel levels in the 1987 World Series games reportedly reached as high as 125 -- or nearly as loud as the unreserved praises for the Dome sung by Twins catcher Joe Mauer.

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