Minnesota Twins: 5 reasons why the Twins can win the World Series
The Minnesota Twins still need to get to the postseason, but if they clinch the AL Central, there are several factors that can help this team win the World Series.
The Minnesota Twins 2019 season has been a roller coaster of emotions. After the Twins got off to a fast start and jumped out to the best record in the American League, they fell back to reality as the Cleveland Indians took their turn to go on a white-hot stretch to even take the lead in the AL Central division.
As things looked bleak with the Twins not making a move to upgrade their starting rotation at the trade deadline, many jumped off the Bomba Squad’s bandwagon. However, another strong stretch of play helped catapult the Twins over the Indians as they fell back to earth and with their magic number back down to eight, it appears the Twins are on their way to their first division title since 2010.
With the Twins gearing up for a potential postseason run, the court of public opinion on this team is mixed. On one hand, the Twins have displayed dominance throughout the season that suggests they could get hot at any moment and in the month of October, a stretch resulting in 11 wins helps bring home a World Series title.
On the other, it feels like the New York Yankees and Houston Astros have both leapfrogged the Twins in terms of being better equipped for a postseason run. While Minnesota will have to get past both those teams to take it home, there’s enough here that should inspire optimism as the Twins head to October.
The Twins have been terrific on the road
With most teams leading up to the postseason, it always feels like having home-field advantage can help swing the odds in your favor. After all, in the Twins previous two World Series seasons in 1987 and 1991, the Twins battled in a pair of seven-game series that were ultimately decided in the confines of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.
As the Twins inch closer to October this year, they currently sit well behind the Yankees and Astros not only for home-field advantage throughout the postseason but in the American League Divisional Series as well. For most teams, this would be a bit of an issue, but for the Twins, they seem to feel most at home when they are on the road.
The Twins have compiled an overall record of 50-25 on the road this season, which entering Monday was the best mark in Major League Baseball. The Twins have especially turned this on since the All-Star break as they’ve won nine of their last 11 series on the road compiling an overall record of 22-7.
By comparison, the Twins are 2-7-1 in series at Target Field since the All-Star break with an overall record of 14-18.
Many of those series have come against teams that are currently out of the playoff race such as Chicago and Detroit, but they’ve also performed well in road series that matter including a pair of series victories against Cleveland to help take control of the AL Central. With the Twins struggles at Target Field, starting a series on the road might actually give them an advantage.
The Twins lineup can score runs in bunches
The strength of the Twins throughout the season has been their ability to put runs up in bunches. While the teams of Twins’ past relied on small ball and playing the “Twins Way” to manufacture runs, this team has no such issues as they’ve put up runs and smashed the ball out of the park at a historic rate.
By now, you know that the Twins set the MLB record for home runs in a single-season last month, surpassing the 267 hit by the Yankees last season. Although they currently are in a battle with this year’s edition of the Yankees for the MLB lead, the Twins have still hit an insane 287 bombs on the year and should push for 300 by the time the season comes to a close.
Thinking back on the Twins teams of the 2000s, every inning was a crucible where the Twins had to scratch and claw for every run during their string of playoff failures. Although the game has changed dramatically since their last playoff victory in the 2002 ALDS, the ability to change the score with one swing of the bat is a huge advantage no matter what the opposing team throws at them.
But don’t take that from me, take it from Mitch Garver, who revealed his thought process to Dan Hayes of The Athletic (subscription required).
“We’re trying to hit home runs,” Garver said. “You should. It’s the ultimate way to score. If you’re not hitting home runs, if you’re trying to string four or five hits together against (Justin) Verlander or Gerrit Cole or Zack Greinke, you’re going to lose. You have to go for home runs.”
This team can definitely do just that and barring a power outage that would fall in line with previous Minnesota sports disasters, they’re going to be able to put up runs in the postseason.
The Twins bullpen has stepped up
While the Twins lineup has done most of the heavy lifting throughout the season, their bullpen has been the team’s unofficial scapegoat. Punctuated by a stretch where the Twins designated FOUR relievers for assignment in one week, the Twins bullpen had a mid-season overhaul that has helped them regain their effectiveness.
Although the Twins’ trade deadline of Sam Dyson appears to be a bust for 2019 (they will have control of him through next season), the acquisition of Sergio Romo has been a huge boost for the on the field with his performance (3.38 ERA in 18 2/3 innings since coming over) on the field and his personality has helped the clubhouse off of it.
The Twins have also had several relievers within the organization step up. Tyler Duffey hasn’t allowed a run in 18 appearances since the trade deadline. Trevor May has used his fastball more, which has helped him to a 0.90 ERA and 25:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio since the deadline. Even with Taylor Rogers‘ struggles in early August, he’s picked it up with one earned run in his last 10 1/3 innings.
While the current members of the bullpen have stepped up, the Twins have also made additions from within including Zack Littell (who has allowed two earned runs since May 30) and top prospect Brusdar Graterol, who has settled in after a rocky start to his major league career.
In a perfect world, the Twins would love to get an extended effort out of their starting rotation, but if that fails, the bullpen has stepped up to the point where they will be ready for a postseason challenge.
The Twins have enough starting pitching to get to their bullpen
Anyone that watched the postseason last year should recall the Milwaukee Brewers’ run to the National League Championship Series. Although the team didn’t have a traditional ace, they used a combination of their bullpen and mind games to surge into the postseason and even push the Los Angeles Dodgers within one game of their first pennant since 1982.
The Brewers’ bullpen last year may be stronger than the Twins current staff, but it does provide an interesting blueprint manager Rocco Baldelli can use to get around the woes in his starting rotation.
After the loss of Michael Pineda to a 60-game suspension and Kyle Gibson recovering from ulcerative colitis, the Twins find themselves in a scramble for starting pitching. While Jose Berrios and Jake Odorizzi were both All-Stars and will be in the postseason rotation, the rest of the starting staff may be a mystery and could make for a couple games where they employ the opener strategy.
Overall, the Twins may have a better pitching staff than the Brewers did and could even be in better shape if Berrios and Odorizzi find their first-half form. With the way the bullpen has pitched recently, it wouldn’t be past the Twins to send a couple mind games their opponent’s way to set them up for success and keep everyone guessing.
The Twins have competed well with the Yankees and Astros
Of course, everything here has to compare with the Yankees and Astros, who will stand in the way of a long postseason run. The Astros have gotten significantly better with the addition of Zack Grienke to their rotation and the Yankees are always dangerous thanks to their ability to hit the ball out of the park on the same level of the Twins.
However, the Twins have enough to compete with both teams and in both season series against Houston and New York, they held their own and proved to be a team that can compete with some of the best against the American League.
Against the Astros, the Twins were able to take the season series winning four out of the seven games. While Houston has gotten healthier and made the big move at the trade deadline to further bolster one of the best rotations in baseball, the Twins have the offensive depth to go toe-to-toe with their lineup if they can get to Gerrit Cole, Justin Verlander and Greinke.
The Yankees also proved to be a formidable opponent as they flexed their muscle to take four out of the six games with the Twins, but that record doesn’t indicate how close the Twins were in a majority of those games. In their most recent series, Minnesota even had the opportunity to take the series from the Bronx Bombers if it weren’t for a highlight-reel grab from Aaron Hicks.
3 questions for the Twins vs. White Sox. dark. Next
It’s completely possible that both these teams are better but it’s not like the Twins aren’t even in their league. If they can get their bats going and find a way to best utilize their pitching staff, it’s possible that Minnesota could go on a long postseason run that ends with the third World Series title in franchise history.