Note: An earlier version of this had Rocco's name misspelled in the headline. I'm going to be honest, I was so amped up watching the Twins destroy Houston last night that I completely goofed and missed the error. That being said, 'Rocco BADelli' has a nice ring to it and I'm considering running with it because he's one bad man. Okay, carry on!
We're deep into the MLB postseason, and for the first time in two decades the Minnesota Twins are actively involved. The Twins snapped a miserable 18-game playoff losing streak last week, ending nearly two decades of turmoil and seemingly igniting a whole new era for the team.
This team is built differently on almost every level from the playoff teams we've seen in the past, something it continued to prove on Sunday night in Houston. After losing Game 1, the Twins used momentum it started to build late in the loss on Saturday to jump all over the Astros.
Watching the team play so well this late in the season is still new for Twins fans, who had been conditioned to assume the team was merely bystanders in the playoffs. Minnesota Nice exits were commonplace for the last twenty years, but this feels like the dawn of a new era.
It seems that paying attention to the Twins in the postseason is new for MLB on FOX, something that has been evident with one specific graphic the broadcast insists on rolling out despite the fact that it's blantantly false.
FOX graphic keeps disrespecting Rocco Baldelli with incorrect graphic
For some reason, FOX thinks that this is the first time that Rocco Baldelli has managed in the ALDS. Each time he's been interviewed, a graphic flashes across the screen and very boldly points this fact out, even though it's completely false.
mmm no pic.twitter.com/lOWGITffN8
— Brandon Warne (@Brandon_Warne) October 9, 2023
Rocco managed the Twins to the ALDS back in 2019, which was his first year as manager. Not only that, but Minnesota won 101-games that year, and Rocco won AL Manager of the Year for the work he did turning the Twins around.
Perhaps most perplexing is the fact that FOX aired the ALDS between the Twins and Yankees, and interviewed Rocco multiple times.
It's a pretty big oversight, but it also goes to show just how much of an afterthought the Twins have been in the postseason for the last two decades. So far this October, though, the team is starting to command respect, and these sorts of mistakes are going to be harder and harder to miss the more we see of the team in the postseason.