Twins allow Guardians to clinch a playoff berth after worst season series since 2007
Well that wasn't very fun.
Two pretty terrible things happened on Thursday afternoon in Cleveland. The Minnesota Twins polished off their worst season series agaisnt the Guardians in almost two decades while allowing their rivals to punch a ticket to the postseason.
Given how things are trending, the Twins aren't going to be joining them.
Minnesota lost two games in extra innings in less than a 24 our span, which would suggest the team went down swinging but that'd be giving them too much credit. After a season of crazy ups-and-downs, it appears the Twins are simply out of gas, and a roster that has been held together by duct tape and bubblegum has no distance left to run.
It's hard to overstate just how bad Minnesota was against Cleveland this year. Twins hitters went 18-for-106 for an abysmal .170 average with runners in scoring position against the Guardians, something that was on full display this week.
With Thursday's loss, the Twins finish the season with the fewest amount of wins against Cleveland since 2007. That season they won just three games against their rivals, which is what happened this year as well.
Minnesota's troubles aren't over, as the question now shifts from whether the Twins can catch the Guardians to whether or not they make the playoffs at all.
Twins are on the brink of falling out of the playoff picture after 3-2 loss to Cleveland
As bad as the series was in Cleveland, the Twins' season isn't over -- yet. Full attention now turns to the surging Tigers, which is going to be less a glance over the shoulder and more of a look toward the left as Detroit is even with Minnesota in the Wild Card standings.
There's still a world in which Minnesota maeks the playoffs, as they somehow still control their destiny the rest of the way. The Twins winning the season series over Detroit means they have a tiebreaker over the Tigers, which is the only thing keeping them in the playoff picture.
Minnesota heads east to Boston for a series against the Red Sox, with each game now being must-win. Detroit will play the Orioles, a team that is trying to claw its way back to the top of the AL East as time begins to run out on the season.
We have just 9 games left before the playoffs arrive, and as it stands now the Twins would be in. It doesn't feel that way based on they've played, and it unfortunately might not be long before they're on the outside looking in.
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