Minnesota vs. Anaheim for the American League pennant? Yeah, pretty much everyone had that one figured back in March.

So much for the "the same old teams always make it to the World Series" carping. The AL champion will be very different, if only because, for the first time since 1997, that team won't be the Yankees.

The changing of the guard was a common theme in a victorious, champagne-drenched Twins clubhouse Sunday afternoon. First baseman Doug Mientkiewicz said he was heartened to know, even before his Twins advanced, that the ALCS would, either way, feature a matchup of underdogs.

Further, you can't get much different from the Yankees than either the Twins or the Angels. If the Yankees are baseball's Tiffany franchise, then the Twins are straight out of K-Mart, threatened with extinction. Everything marked down, everything must go.

At least the Twins can, institutionally, recall some World Series experiences, having been there in 1987 and 1991. Until Saturday, the Angels had never won a single postseason series.

Now, the Yankees and A's have gone home, their 100-win seasons vanished in disappointment. It's just the Twins and the Angels now, one big lurch into the postseason unknown. These two may be very different from the Yankees, but are themselves, quite similar to one another.

Both teams depend on deep, largely anonymous bullpens, which are anchored by closers who've struggled in the last week. Anaheim's Troy Percival closed out all three of the Angels wins' in the ALDS against the Yankees, but in two of them, he was scored upon in the ninth inning, making the games closer than when he entered.

Minnesota's Eddie Guardado nearly blew a four-run lead on Sunday, giving up a three-run homer to usually light-hitting Mark Ellis before finally slamming the door shut on the A's. After the win, manager Ron Gardenhire said he struggled with deciding to allow Guardado to get the final out. A spent Guardado said he had nothing but his fastball going, not an encouraging scenario with another three weeks of postseason baseball scheduled.

Fortunately, for both closers, they're aided by deep bullpens. Minnesota boasts two lefties beyond Guardado in Johan Santana and J.C. Romero, which will help Gardenhire match up with Darin Erstad and Garret Anderson.

Anaheim's not-so-secret weapon has been flame-throwing Francisco Rodriguez, who has quickly inspired comparisons to a younger Mariano Rivera. The Angels almost left him off their postseason roster. Now, they wonder where they'd be without him after he got two wins against the Yankees.

That both teams have good bullpen depth is fortuitous since neither sports a particularly dominant rotation. Brad Radke and Eric Milton are capable of strong starts, but thanks to injury and inconsistency, have been far from sure things. Rick Reed has more playoff experience than his staff-mates, but not much.

Jarrod Washburn, an 18-game winner during the regular season, is the closest thing either team has to an actual, honest-to-goodness ace, but because he pitched the clincher, won't be available until Game 3. Kevin Appier, consistent if unspectacular, and Ramon Ortiz, spotty though capable of periods of brilliance will go in the first two games.

Offensively, neither team relies on power the way the Yankees and A's do did. Instead, the Twins function somewhat like a National League team from the 1980s -- taking advantage of the artificial turf surface in their home ballpark, moving runners over and shooting balls through the outfield gaps.

The Angels will bunt, and while they don't walk much they excel at following off pitches during at-bats and wearing down opposing pitchers, or, "grinding it out" as the practice is called. When it works right, it results in the kind of offensive tsunami that took place in the fifth inning Saturday, when 10 hits washed the Yankees right out of the postseason.

"Nobody," recalled designated hitter Shawn Wooten, "wanted to make the last out."

The Angels had the fewest strikeouts in the league (more than 100 fewer than any other team) and they are almost insistent in putting the ball in play, putting pressure on the defensive to make plays -- something the Yankees failed to do, as best witnessed by the looper that fell between Bernie Williams and Alfonso Soriano that helped open the floodgates in Saturday's eight-run fifth.

Defensively, the Twins hold an edge, particularly in the infield, where the double-play combination of Cristian Guzman and Luis Rivas has far more range and athleticism that the Angels' plucky duo of David Eckstein and Adam Kennedy.

That advantage may become more pronounced in the Metrodome, where the fast surface may be unforgiving for the Angels and the notorious roof -- coupled with the fan noise -- could become problematic. Since the Angels were the wild-card team, four of the possible seven games will be in Minnesota, even though Anaheim at the better regular-season record.

If there's a danger for either team, it could be the temptation to regard everything from this point forward as a bonus. For once, both teams could cite the much overused boast of "No one gave us a chance" and actually be correct.

No, no one gave either of these teams much of a chance to reach the ALCS. But then, anyone who thinks they're satisfied to get here hasn't been paying much attention.

They could, in fact, be guilty of missing the whole point.

Sean McAdam of the Providence Journal covers baseball for ESPN.com.