2. 1987 Minnesota Twins (85 – 77)
The 1987 Minnesota Twins were one of the biggest surprise teams in franchise history. Despite a rather average regular season, the Twins came through in the playoffs. But more on that later.
This team was led by two of the all-time greatest Twins’ players Kirby Puckett and Kent Hrbek. They were very well balanced, though, as their pitching rotation was fantastic also. Their pitching rotation was led by Frank Viola.
Kirby Puckett had a slash line of .332/.367/.534 with 28 home-runs and 99 RBI’s, leading the team in batting average and on-base percentage.
Kent Hrbek had a slash line of .285/.389/.545 with 34 home-runs and 90 RBI’s, leading the team in home-runs.
Frank Viola went 17-10 with a 2.90 ERA. He also averaged 7 strikeouts per 9 innings compared to only 2.4 walks per 9 innings.
This was the first time the city of Minneapolis saw a World Series win as the 1987 Twins ended the year as World Series champs. Again, despite an average season, they were stellar in the World Series in a 4-3 series win over the St. Louis Cardinals.