Do you remember the 22nd night of September? A night that will forever be cemented in Minnesota Twins history, as it was an evening of celebrations for the club. Finally, the Twins captured the AL Central division crown with an 8-6 win over the Los Angeles Angels.
The best part about it? The Twins got to celebrate at Target Field with their fans and they didn't have to wait around to get the party started this time. The team handled their business and earned a much-deserved night of celebrations and memories in front of the home crowd.
For the first time since 2020, the Twins are heading back to the postseason as AL Central champions and that year also marks the last time the Twins made it to the postseason.
Sept. 22 has a new chapter of Twins history written in the books following the win on Friday night. What else has happened on this historic date? Let's take a look.
2020: heading into the final stretch of the regular season, the Twins found themselves in a tight race with the Chicago White Sox. A walk-off single by Max Kepler gave the Twins a 5-4 win over the Tigers and trimmed their deficit to a half game.
Before the game, the Twins honored former skipper Ron Gardenhire who stepped down from his same role with the Tigers due to health just days before the series kicked off.
2010: Almost having history repeat itself, the Twins entered the day after clinching the AL Central title the night before. The Twins took down the Cleveland Indians by a final of 5-1, with Nick Blackburn taking the mound and winning his 10th game of the season.
Blackburn became the sixth Twin to win 10 games that season, which marked the first time in franchise history that the club had that many double-digit winners on the pitching staff.
1990: In a game where the Twins took down the Rangers by a final of 6-4, Gary Gaetti hit the 200th home run of his career in grand fashion with a bases-loaded blast and boosting the team to victory.
1970 and 1969: The Twins secured AL Western Division titles on the same day in back-to-back seasons. In 1970, the Twins got five innings one one-run ball from Jim Kaat and two RBIs a piece from Jim Holt and Tony Olivia to help the team win a 5-3 final over the Oakland Athletics.
One year prior in 1969, the Twins took down the Kansas City Royals by a final of 4-3 to reel in the division crown. Leading the charge offensively was Harmon Killebrew who smacked his 47th home run of the season and drove in his 137th RBI, followed by Cesar Tovar who collected three hits and drove in two runs.
Bob Miller took the mound, where he went eight innings and allowed just three runs to help the Twins land a playoff spot and win their 92nd game of the seaosn.
1968: A feat we won't see too often anymore. In a game against the Oakland A's, Cesar Tovar managed to play one inning at each position on the diamond. At the time, Tovar was the second player in MLB history to do so.
On the mound, Tovar tossed one scoreless inning with one walk and one strikeout. At the plate, he went 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored in a 2-1 win for the Twins. Rod Carew went 2-for-4 with an RBI and Bob Allison drove in the other run in the win.
Since Tovar accomplished this, we have seen three other players follow suit with the rare opportunity. Ironically, two of those times came against the Twins when Shane Halter did it in 2000 and Andrew Romine did it in 2017. Both played for the Tigers at the time, too.