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| Target Field, 2010. |
After the dust settled on the game-3 loss to the New York Yankees, I remember being in the basement listening to the local sports radio hosts as they broke things down. Based on what they said, and my own feelings after the game, I remember feeling really down about their chances to get past the feared Yankees in a playoff round. The Twins had a bunch of chances throughout the decade, and they had one ALCS appearance to show for it, back in 2002. Either way, 2010 just seemed like the end of an era, whether we knew it at the time or not.
That certainly turned out to be the case. It took nine years, until this past Wednesday night, for the Twins to clinch another division title. Sure, the 2017 team made the postseason, but it's still hard to qualify that as the same thing, especially when they're the wild-card team that lost and didn't advance to a playoff series.
After 2010, the Target-Field era has been filled with struggling teams (remember those 103 losses in 2016?) and teams that seemed to go the opposite direction of pre-season expectations.
But 2019 has brought all the Twins optimism back. What a freakin' summer. As of Friday night's rain-shortened victory in Kansas City, the Twins have 100 wins in a season for the second time in franchise history.
New manager, new players for a fresh start in 2019
The Twins came into the spring with a new manager in Rocco Baldelli. After saying a fond farewell to Joe Mauer at the end of 2018, the front office went out and signed guys like Nelson Cruz, Marwin Gonzalez, Jonathan Schoop and C.J. Cron. Fast forward to the night the Twins clinched their division in late September, and those four players alone combined for 102 home runs.
This season has almost too many moments to recount or choose as favorites. That's the kind of year it's been for a group dubbed, in late May by Eddie Rosario, the Bomba Squad.
First, the Twins broke the Major League Baseball record for home runs by a team in a single season with No. 268 on Aug. 31, part of a six-homer game for the Twins, bookended by "back-up" catcher Mitch Garver. Talk about juiced baseballs all you want, but home runs will never stop being entertaining. To see the Twins put up these kinds of numbers this year in the home-run column is astonishing.
Beyond that, the team/franchise/MLB records fell all over the place. It was 226 homers to break the franchise record (Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins), then 268 to break the record set by the New York Yankees just last season. The day after the Twins clinched the division, Schoop hit No. 300 for the squad.
The home runs became such a regular occurrence that I started adding more stat columns to my personal Twins spreadsheet. I turned it into a color-coded column to mark the homers each game; it was rare that they didn't homer at all (only 30 homeless games with two left), especially in the first two months of the season. They've never gone more than two games without a homer. Funny enough though, the Twins had a slow start with the long ball. They hit just one in the first five games, but that could be attributed to some cold weather, too.
Everybody hits on the Bomba Squad
A few things stick out when it comes to the Bombas. Max Kepler hit three in the same game off Shane Bieber in Cleveland. Cruz added a pair of 3-homer games of his own. More recently, Cruz put an exclamation mark on the regular-season, home finale at Target Field by hitting his 400th career home run and 40th of the season. Not bad for a guy who turned 39 this season and shows no signs of slowing down, despite two stints on the injured list this year.Seeing Cruz crush that home run against the Royals, then get the curtain call from the fans, was one of those great, milestone moments. It was a fitting way to end the home schedule, just like the 2018 finale when Joe Mauer came out in catcher's gear for the 9th inning.
Sanó has the power
Miguel Sanó started out the season missing 41 games with a nagging injury, but he's certainly left his mark once again. In June, he went through a very rough stretch at the plate, piling up the strikeouts. Some adjustments were made, and the Bombas starting flying. He's had a few of the memorable ones.
On July 23, during a home game against the Yankees, the Twins ended up losing 14-12 in 10 innings (nearly missing a walk-off win after a diving catch from Aaron Hicks). This was a back-and-forth game that still goes down as probably the most exciting of the year for me - even though the Twins lost. That was really the only thing that was a bummer.
The Twins hosted the NL East Champion Atlanta Braves in early August. Though the Twins lost that series, the lone victory for the Twins was a thrilling walk-off victory, their third of the season and first via the home run. Sanó stepped to the plate in the 9th inning in a tie game with two outs and a runner on.
He's had a few home runs this season with a loud crack-of-the-bat. This was no exception as he blasted it deep to center field. The best part of the play was watching as the ball sailed high above Atlanta center fielder Ronald Acuña Jr.'s head, and then seeing the outfielder simply put his head down and start trotting in when it was obvious to him that the game was over.
Sanó's other big Bomba this season is what some started calling a "division dagger." Every series since the All-Star Break between the Twins and the Indians was labeled by many as "the biggest series of the year." The Twins lost 3-of-4 at Target Field in early August as Cleveland continued to dwindle the Twins' division lead. The Twins got back in control and could really put a stamp on the division during their final series in Cleveland in mid-September.
Division dagger
They were scheduled for a weekend series, but after starting a couple innings of the Friday night game, with Jake Odorizzi on the mound, the tarp came on the field as the forecasted heavy rain and thunderstorms invaded the area. The game was postponed, setting up a doubleheader the next day. On paper, this seemed less than ideal for the Twins, who would now have to go with two bullpen games instead of just one.
But there's just something about this team, right? Jorge Polanco's early two-run homer against Indians ace Mike Clevinger held up for a 2-0 win in game one. Clevinger hadn't lost a game in months. The Twins decided to go for it in game two, going with a solid lineup that included both Kepler and Sanó, each back for both games that day after missing some time with injuries.
The Twins first tied the game 5-5 in the 8th inning off an RBI double from Polanco. After an intentional walk to Cruz, then a non-intentional walk to Rosario to fill the bases, Sanó stepped up and destroyed another baseball, hitting his first career grand slam off Nick Goody to put the Twins in front for good, for a 9-5 victory. All those home runs, and it was only the second grand slam of the season for the Twins.
What a time for it. The Twins completed the doubleheader sweep to take the series and effectively end the division race with 13 games to play against the division bottom feeders to end the season.
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) September 15, 2019
A division clinch at home didn't end up happening, and like has been the case a few times, the Twins took care of business and then waited for the outcome of the Chicago White Sox game to determine their fate. They popped the bubbly late in Detroit after the Indians lost on Thursday.
Divisional foes play each other 19 times a season, and Comerica Park in Detroit has a special place as part of 2019 Minnesota Twins history. Garver hit the MLB-record-breaking home run there on Aug. 31. The Twins won the first two games against the Tigers (a team guaranteed to finish as the worst in baseball this year with old-friend Ron Gardenhire leading the way) in late September to clinch their first division title since 2010.
And then, the next day when everyone expected the "hangover lineup" to take a loss, Schoop hit the team's 300th home run of the season, making them the first team in MLB history to reach that milestone in a single season. For good measure, fan-favorite Willians Astudillo finished that game with a career-high 4 hits and homer No. 301 for the team (his fourth of the season).
I could go on and on about the memorable moments from this season, in no particular order...
- The rise of rookie Luis Arraez
- Joe Mauer's No. 7 retirement ceremony
- Rosario's throw to the plate to win the game at Fenway
- Twins sweeping a 4-game series in Texas for the first time
- All the records this team shattered, which seems to happen on a daily basis
- The 18- and 17-inning games at Target Field, with Kepler driving in the tying and game-winning runs in the 17-inning win over the Red Sox at Target Field in June
- Pretty much anything Astudillo does on the field, or his reactions in the dugout
- The dominance of Taylor Rogers as a closer, and the way guys like Trevor May and Tyler Duffey have rebounded to shut teams down
- Six winning months
- 54 (and counting) road victories, the best in baseball and a team record
- 5 players with 30+ home runs, a new MLB record
- A pair of 8-homer games
- Sweeping the Orioles 6-0 this season with 23 homers in the process
- Twins turned two triple plays at home this season with Martín Pérez on the mound
- The Arraez at-bat in the 9th on July 16, when he entered for the injured Schoop with an 0-2 and worked a walk
- Avoiding a 3-game losing streak until mid-July
- Consecutive team shutouts in Toronto in early May
- 56 #Bombas in the month of May
- All the Garver home runs, including his 2-run shot in the 8th inning to break a scoreless tie v. the Royals on June 14
- 100 wins
All along, I've said how much I've enjoyed the ride this season. And with 162 games, you have to look at it that way. It's a grind, but this year has been so much fun. Do Twins fans want more? Of course, they do. Do they get nauseous when they hear the Twins will match up against the Yankees in the ALDS once again? Sure.
Despite whatever might happen in the postseason, I will look back at this season and remember what a great run they had getting back to first place in the division, winning 100 games for the first time since 1965 and hitting all the home runs.
I just hope they're not done yet. Bring on October baseball.
Editor's note: Did I miss your favorite moment from the 2019 season? Want to share your top moment? Let me know in the comments, or Tweet me @hlrule. Thanks for reading!
Editor's note: Did I miss your favorite moment from the 2019 season? Want to share your top moment? Let me know in the comments, or Tweet me @hlrule. Thanks for reading!
