My Two Cents: Twins Don't Have to Apologize For Winning AL Central By Default
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Their work isn't done yet, not by a longshot. But still, it's very much looking like the Minnesota Twins are going to win the American League Central division title for one reason, and one reason only.
Because they're the only team that's really trying.
They lead the the AL Central by 4 1/2 games over the Cleveland Guardians heading into action on Friday night. The Twins are 63-59 on the year — the worst record of any division leader — and are the only team in the division over .500. The other four — the Guardians, Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals — are a combined 86 games under .500
Yep, you read that right. Those four are 86 games under .500. Only the Guardians still have a chance to catch them, with six games remaining between the two division rivals.
The Twins have 40 games left, but with this new balanced schedule, only 10 of them are against AL Central teams. They have six left with Cleveland — three at home Aug. 28-30 and three on the road Sept. 4-6. — and they play the downtrodden Chicago White Sox four times on the road from Sept. 14-17.
They actually have more games against National League teams — 14 in total against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Milwaukee Brewers, New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds and Colorado Rockies.
Seems kind of awkward, doesn't it?
Cleveland has been its only true competitor all season. They've met seven times so far, with the Guardians winning four of the seven. The six games could change the tide, but it seems unlikely considering that the Guardians were in a bit of sell mode too at the deadline. They shipped off their best pitcher, Aaron Civale, to the Tampa Bay Rays, and all of their playoff starters from a year ago are done for the season.
Dumping pitchers was a division trend. Detroit traded ace Michael Lorenzen to Philadelphia, and Chicago got rid of starters Lucas Giolito and Lance Lynn, plus a handful of other players. Even last-place Kansas City had a fire sale, most notably trading Aroldis Chapman to Texas.
No one, other than the Twins, seems intent on trying to win.
For the longest time, all five American League East teams had a better record than the AL Central leader. The Twins, who are 9-6 in August, have actually passed the last-place New York Yankees finally. New York is 3-9 since Aug. 4.
The Twins have had their fair share of issues all season long, too. They have never been more than six games over .500 at any point in the season. They were 17-12 in March/April and their high-water mark ON THE SEASON was when they were 10-4 on April 14.
Yep, really. That was a long time ago.
They had losing records in May (12-15) and June (12-15), and went just 13-11 in July, They finally won five games in a row from Aug. 3-7, their longest streak of the year.
They've been a hard team to figure out.
Even for themselves.
Max Kepler, a Twins starter in the outfield since 2016, said it's hard for him to even put a finger on their crazy season. They're better than their record says, he thinks, and it's been frustrating when they've hit some bad stretches — especially against bad teams.
Since the All-Star break, they've been swept by lowly Kansas City and lost three of four to Detroit.
"We're approaching September, but the main focus is still coming to the ballpark every day and having each other's backs,'' said Kepler, who's tied for the team lead in homers with 20. ''Me personally, I don't really focus on the standings much. I try to stay in the present and control what I can. For me, that helps me a lot, both with baseball and life in general, because I try not to get caught up with the past — or the future.
"The way we've been playing lately, even when we lose, we're still resilient. We still feel it, 100 percent, that we have a really good stretch still coming. We've been very hot and cold, but we've got a good run coming. We can feel it.''
With these recent struggles within the division, the Twins have wasted an opportunity to blow the race wide open. They are just 23-19 inside the AL Central, which isn't nearly good enough.
And here are some stunning numbers to support that. Look at their potential playoff opponents, and what they've done against the entire AL Central:
Tampa Bay is 20-6, Texas is 17-5, Baltimore is 18-7 and Toronto is 18-8. That's a stunning 73-26 record and a .737 winning percentage.
That's how bad that division is.
Just getting into the 12-team playoff grid does matter, of course. If you're in, you have a shot, although Minnesota's brutal recent playoff history might say otherwise. The postseason numbers are staggeringly horrible.
Since 2006, they have made the playoffs six times — and have lost all 15 games they've played. They have only won one playoff series — they beat Oakland 3-2 in the five-game AL Division Series in 2002 — since winning the World Series in 1991. (They also won a world championship in 1987).
So, hell yeah, there's a reason why the Twins at least want to get into the postseason dance. They would love to erase some demons.
"You want to get in. With the playoff drought the Twins have had, that creeps in but you want to get in and prove the doubters wrong,'' Kepler said. "We all take it in, the pennant race, and we're all excited. That's why you play, and that's how we approach every day. Baseball is such and up-and-down game, that you have to let that adversity roll off of you and get on to the next at bat, the next game, the next series.''
The fact that the records of AL Central teams is so bad this year has a lot to do with the new, balanced schedule. The Twins, for instance, used to play 19 games a year against the Guardians, Tigers, White Sox and Royals. Now that's just 13 each, 52 games total instead of 76.
They make it up with 46 games against the National League, playing every team at least once. Minnesota is just 17-15 in interleague games heading into Friday's game with the Pirates, so they haven't really taken advantage of that, either.
Most everyone seems to enjoy the new schedule, but the Twins haven't really done much damage vs. the NL. Their record is about the same as it is against AL foes.
"I like going to different cities and seeing different teams,'' Kepler said. "It's refreshing, because I've been in this division for eight years and I've made way too many trips to Detroit and Kansas City and Cleveland.
"It's fun, and we'll see a lot of different guys. We end the season in Colorado, and that sort of checks off a box, too.''
Having 14 interleague games left adds a different wrinkle to a pennant race, because you see a lot of pitchers and hitters that you aren't familiar with. Scouting takes on extra importance, as does adjusting on the fly.
"There's always that challenge of playing some guys that you just haven't seen a ton of,'' Baldelli said. "We don't know them, don't know their tendencies. You can't just sit around and wait to get comfortable.
"But I've always said from the first day that the schedule came out that it's a good thing for baseball, a good thing for everybody, to get around and play different teams and give the fans a chance to lay their eyes on the best players in the game. The competitive part of it, it's really in the preparation. Playing all those clubs over and over before, this changes things now. You rely more on scouting and reports, and learning what you can, but that's no substitute for actually being out there.''
For the Twins, it's all about closing the door now. They were just 5-5 in their last 10, but actually still gained a game on the Guardians, who have had just one three-game winning streak since the break. They have patched together a starting rotation through the injuries (Shane Bieber, Triston McKenzie, Cal Quantrill), and they just don't hit at all. They are dead last in baseball in home runs, and 28th out of 30 teams in runs scored.
The White Sox were supposed to contend too, but they've been a complete dumpster fire for going on two years now and are just a flat-out horrible — and unwatchable for this Chicagoland natige — team that's 25 games under .500. The Tigers are trying, but still have a ton of gaps to fill. And the Royals, well, they still have a long way to go, too.
For now, this is all about the Twins.
What's hard, though, is that they also have good memories. This time a year ago, they were seven games over .500 — a click better than today — and felt like they were still very much in the race, just a game behind Cleveland.
But they but had a six-game losing streak down the stretch, plus a five-gamer and three three-game losing streaks. They went 11-23 from Aug. 31 on and fell out of the race quickly. They finished a whopping 14 games behind Cleveland.
The Guardians, fully armed a year ago, ran away with the division. This year, it's up to the Twins to do the same with the Guardians hobbling and the rest of the division setting up offseason tee times.
The Twins should win this thing, and they won't have to apologize to anyone for doing it.
Related AL Central Stories on Fastball
- TWINS' RYAN GETS REHAB START: As the Minnesota Twins push for the American League Central title this year, they are closer to getting back starting pitcher Joe Ryan, who is out on a rehab start on Friday night. Manager Rocco Baldelli said there is no set timetable for his return, and they will know more in the next day or two. CLICK HERE
- TIGERS' CABRERA MOVES UP RBI LIST: With an RBI on Friday, Detroit Tigers star Miguel Cabrera continued to move up the all-time list. Here's where he ranks now. CLICK HERE
- ROYALS' WITT GETS COMPANY: Seattle Mariners star Julio Rodriguez joined Kansas City Royals star Bobby Witt Jr. in baseball history on Thursday. They're the only two players ever to go 20/20 in their first two years. CLICK HERE
- HARRELSON RIPS WHITE SOX: Long-time Chicago White Sox announcer Hawk Harrelson ripped the underachieving team in an interview and called it "one of the most disappointing seasons of my major-league career.” CLICK HERE
