North Dakota Twins Fan

It's playoff baseball time and for the first time in the history of the game there will be a play-in game between the two wild card teams in each league. The Twins missed out on postseason play for the second year in a row but there are plenty of other story lines to watch in the coming weeks.

Can the Oakland A's continue their magical run?
Will former Twins slugger Jim Thome be able to capture his first title?
Are the Texas Rangers going to be able to recover after their collapse?
Is Kris Medlen really one of the best pitchers in the game?
Who can stop the St. Louis Cardinals from repeating?
What is going to stop 19-year old Bryce Harper from having his coming out party?

The list of things to watch could go on and on. But before the games get started, let's check out some of the top stories of the week from across the baseball world. Here's this week's edition of "Friday Links-N-Thinks."

• You can pre-order the 2013 Twins Offseason Handbook from the TwinsDaily crew.
• There was quite the purge of the coaching staff at Target Field yesterday.
• I wish I had the funds to do this for one season with the Twins.
• Here is a review of the 2012 season for the Twins.
• Trevor Plouffe got a little excited on the base path this week so he had to get creative.
• Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario both made the list of top prospects in the Midwest League.
• This in-depth prospect report on Miguel Sano of the Twins is a must read.
• Should the Twins emulate the White Sox?
• Ryan Doumit has been a great fit with the Twins.
• This was the most tragic story of the week as former Twins pitcher Pat Neshek lost his newborn son within a day of him being born. Thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family.
• Tsuyoshi Nishioka was let go by the Twins this week and he already agreed to a deal with a new team in Japan.
• The Mariners are making Safeco more hitter friendly and one has to wonder if the Twins will be next.
• One of the men in the picture below made the list of least popular MLB jerseys in 2012.

• Does the Triple Crown still matter?
• I gave a few reasons to watch the postseason above but here are 100 more reasons if you needed the push.
• Curt Schilling might be forced to sell his bloody sock from the 2004 ALCS.
• There is a push in Minnesota to unseal Lou Gehrig's medical records.
• Attendance was up across the baseball world but the Twins didn't help in that department.
• Teddy Roosevelt finally won the President's race for the Nationals!
• Craig Kimbrel had quite the season in Atlanta and he became the first player to fan half his batters faced.
• Mike Schmidt would like players to make their autographs easier to read. Harmon would be proud!
• For the first time in 50 years, two 100-loss teams took the field to play each other. Someone had to win, right?
• A pitcher for the Tigers got injured during the celebration for winning the AL Central.
• Adam Greenberg got his one at-bat with the Marlins and it was a cool moment in Miami.

My Weekly Rundown

• Monday: Tsuyoshi Nishioka was a "Candle in the Wind"
• Tuesday: Grading last season's free agent signings
• Wednesday: Twins Defensive Player of the Year: Denard Span
• Thursday: Handing out Twins End of the Season Awards
• 2012 MLB Playoff Predictions (sure to go wrong...)

Video of the Week: Scott Diamond got back to his Canadian roots this week while the Twins made a trip up north to play the Blue Jays. In his final start of the year and his first start in his native country, Diamond made a kick save on a ball back up the middle. It was a great year for the left-handed pitcher so this was a cool play to end the year.