Twins are still in the hunt

It's the final week of the regular season for baseball. The Twins have seven games left, and they're still in the hunt for an AL wild card spot. That's right, it's Sept. 28 and the Twins are still playing relevant and meaningful baseball games.

The Twins (80-75) are 1.5 games back of the second wild card position, behind Houston (in the wild card) and the Angels. The Twins finish off their road schedule with four games in Cleveland, a team that's four games back, then they return home for a final three-game set versus AL Central Champion Kansas City.

So, there's still a chance.

Remember 150-some games ago?
It's amazing that we're at this point, really. You think back to last March, when various predictions had the Twins holding down the AL Central basement and losing more than 90 games yet again. It wasn't supposed to be a good season. Then the Twins had a horrible first week of baseball, which included getting swept in Detroit as they were outscored 22-1, and a 1-6 record. It seemed the predictions were right, and we were in for a very long season of baseball.

Then a 20-7 record in May happened. All of a sudden, the Twins were hot. They found some kind of winning formula. Even though there were the ebbs and flows of the season, that month really set the tone for the rest of the way. They were resilient and haven't been exactly out of anything since then.

Fast forward to September. The Twins have come very close to that second wild card spot, though they haven't been in that position yet.

Extra wild card
MLB added the extra wild card to each league in 2012. Two wild card teams, instead of one, play each other in a one-game playoff to see which moves on to the divisional series. I must say, this new process has grown on me, and I'm a fan of having two wild card teams. This might seem like an easy position to take, since the Twins are trying to get into the AL wild card race, but it's still true.

I think it's good for baseball. Kansas City has had the AL Central locked up most of the season. The AL East is a contest between New York and Toronto, and the other will likely take the top wild card. So that leaves a bunch of teams - Houston, Twins, Angels, Cleveland - fighting it out for that last spot.

One thing is true, to quote the late Yogi Berra: It ain't over til it's over. Don't get me wrong, it won't be easy, but it's possible. They need to win at least five, maybe six, of these remaining games to gain ground in the race.

As they say, it's all when you play teams, not who you play.

Help yourselves out
The frustrating thing is that the Twins haven't helped themselves in every situation. They had an important 10-game homestand that started Sept. 11 and only managed a 4-6 record. That included losing two-of-three to the Tigers and three-of-four to the Angels. It included a five-game losing streak, losing both games of a Saturday doubleheader and two losses in 12 innings. They dropped a game each to the Indians and then in Detroit.

While obviously losses happen, teams have off-nights and bad stretches, this was a tough situation to watch. The only good thing was that Houston started losing, too, so the Twins weren't really losing any ground. Depending on how full your glass is, they didn't take the opportunity to gain any ground either.

Any time you lose out on a playoff spot by a tiny margin at the end of the season, it's easy to magnify the recent games. In reality, you could pick out any loss on the year and point to that saying, "what if that were a win?" Still, I know what I'll take a look at if the Twins come up short: That 4-6 homestand where they struggled and didn't take advantage.

But if your glass is half full, you'll say we never expected the team to be at this point in the final week of the season anyway. So let's be grateful for all the fun baseball we've watched this year.

We'll see what happens this week. I hope the Twins can pull off a comeback for a wild card. Maybe we'll even get another Game 163 out of the deal.