For the first time in 21 years, the Minnesota Twins are celebrating a playoff series victory. Tuesday saw the team snap its miserable 18-game postseason losing streak and a day later the team defeated the Toronto Blue Jays to advance to the ALDS.
It's the first time since the Twins beat the A's back in 2002 that Minnesota won a series in October, so the celebration has been a long time coming.
Breaking two long-running streaks of misery has Twins fans fired up about not only what this postseason holds but also what the future has in store with a core of star talent.
Carlos Correa compares Twins to Astros World Series dynasty
Minnesota has always had good teams but nothing has been as outstanding as the roster of talent right now. Royce Lewis is a budding superstar, Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa are already superstars, and guys like Joe Ryan, Jhoan Duran, Matt Wallner, Ryan Jeffers, and Edouard Julien are on the rise in a pretty big way.
After the win in Game 2, Correa spoke with ESPN and made a comparison that Twins fans will both love and loathe -- but mostly love.
“I tell everyone this reminds me of the Astros when the young talent came up and matched up with the veterans," Correa said. "We’re building something special.”
That Astros team Correa is referring to featured the rise of guys like Jose Altuve, George Springer, Marwin Gonzalez, Dallas Keuchel, and Correa -- all of whom became core pieces of a World Series team and a perennial postseason contender.
Of course, there's the whole cheating scandal associated with that Astros team now but we can consider this Correa's chance to repent and make good with the baseball gods. All kidding aside, the comparison absolutely rules because it's quite a high level of validation.
"You look at our young players, they're going to be here for a long time," Correa said. "Me, Buxton, Royce, all of the guys are going to be here for a long time."
Something feels special about this Twins team, and years of setting up moves with the future in mind is finally paying off.