Greatest Twins Teams of All Time: 2019

[Matt Braun]

Join us in argument as we count down the greatest Twins teams in history, as voted on by the Twins Daily writers. Today: the sixth-ranked team.

Image courtesy of Thiéres Rabelo

Not that many baseball teams get a nickname. The 2019 Twins weren't quite Murderer's Row or the Big Red Machine, but they were every bit as good as Harvey's Wallbangers and the South Side Hitmen. That earned them a their own sobriquet.

Overview
The Twins were at a critical juncture entering 2019. Their surprise 2017 Wild Card appearance was a happy incident—especially as it came in the first full season under new front office leadership—but 2018 turned sour, and Minnesota now seemed stuck in the middle, trapped between mediocrity and competency. Longtime second baseman Brian Dozier was dealt to the Dodgers. Fan favorite Eduardo Escobar traveled south to Arizona. Most daunting of all, to emphasize the end of an era, franchise icon Joe Mauer ended his career in 2018, donning his old catcher’s gear for one last pitch before a deeply appreciative Target Field home crowd. 

The season cost one more career: Manager Paul Molitor was shown the door, ending his Twins managerial career after four seasons. The new front office initially kept Molitor despite the turnover—an odd move only made because Twins owner Jim Pohlad promised Molitor’s safety. Now, they could choose their own decision-maker, and they selected Rocco Baldelli, a young Rays product in the modern analytical vein.

Minnesota spent the offseason mostly quiet, choosing to acquire depth pieces over splashy names. C.J. Cron and Jonathan Schoop added right-handed pop to the lineup, Marwin González brought super-utility credentials from a winning organization in the Astros, and Blake Parker and Martín Pérez thickened a pitching staff looking to recover from a forgettable season the year prior. But the big bopper—the man who would symbolize and embody the team unlike any player since—was Nelson Cruz. Set to turn 38 in 2019, Cruz was a risky investment, even if he did claim over a decade of experience pummeling pitchers. 

Fortunately, the gamble paid off.

Lineup
Following an 11-4 bludgeoning of the White Sox on May 24th, left fielder Eddie Rosario told reporters that “[w]hen you’re hitting a lot of bombas, everybody’s hitting bombas, everybody’s happy.” He probably didn’t know it at the time, but his use of “bomba” would soon morph into a living, breathing title, transforming Minnesota from being “The Twins” to “The Bomba Squad.”

And, well, it was fitting: the team blasted 307 homers in 2019, riding the juiced ball (more on that later) to an MLB record for home runs hit in a single season. Five different players (Cruz, Max Kepler,  Miguel Sanó, Rosario, and Mitch Garver ) hit at least 30 bombas (also an MLB record). Cruz alone blasted 41. Garver—despite only taking 359 plate appearances—sent 31 balls over the wall. Their outfielders hit homers; their infielders hit homers; their catchers hit homers. Every player was fully capable of destroying a baseball on any given night, giving the team a deadly 1-9 that scored the second-most runs in MLB.

But yeah, the ball was definitely juiced. Homers started to tick up starting in mid-2015, and they hit a cartoonish zenith in 2019. That year, the league hit 6,776 long balls, blowing way beyond the previous high set just two years prior. It reached a point where commissioner Rob Manfred admitted that MLB’s own scientists noticed the baseball had less drag than before. 

This isn’t to discredit the lineup, though. The ball was juiced for everyone; Minnesota just so happened to notice the trend and made the (correct) decision to focus on adding power bats in the offseason.

One player bucked the trend, though, only hitting four homers in a tremendous rookie season defined by his almost magical contact abilities. Luis Arráez was called up in May for a cup of coffee, went back to Triple-A at the start of June, and re-joined the big league club in the middle of the month. His time in the minors quickly ended. His preferred playing style—spitting on pitches outside of the strike zone with an iconic head shake before smacking a line drive to the opposite field—fueled a .334/.399/.439 line that prompted predictions for a future batting title for the 22-year-old Venezuelan. Those predictions were wrong. He’s won two batting titles.

Pitching
Minnesota’s lineup stole the headlines, but this team could pitch well, too—although it took a while to come around. José Berríos became the unquestioned ace of the staff when injuries curtailed Ervin Santana’s career, and he was characteristically great, earning his second career All-Star nod in 200 ⅓ innings, with a 3.68 ERA. Jake Odorizzi was a hell of a No. 2, breaking out at 29 to make his only career All-Star team in a truncated (but nonetheless effective) season. His ERA was 3.51. And Taylor Rogers baffled hitters out of the bullpen, utilizing his slingshot delivery and new, sharp slider to earn the first 30-save season of his career.

The rest is where things get messy.

The bullpen’s first-half ERA was 4.30—actually not too bad in the context of 2019, but still an unpleasant sight, especially because the depth beyond Rogers was questionable. Thirty-year-old rookie Ryne Harper made the team after a dominant spring training, but his looping curveball schtick faltered, making him unreliable. Tyler Duffey spent the previous four seasons as a frustrating, inconsistent starter. Suddenly, he was throwing 95-MPH darts with a nasty breaking ball. Was it sustainable, though? Trevor May was much of the same, failing to establish himself since he debuted in 2014.

The innings between the starter and Rogers were fraught with hazards and tripwires. Baldelli couldn’t find anyone to trust. Yet, after half a season, it clicked.

The Twins made a move at the deadline, adding a feisty veteran of San Francisco’s trio of championships in Sergio Romo. Romo fit perfectly; his slider-or-nothing approach still earned plenty of whiffs, and his closing experience allowed Baldelli to play matchups with the lefty Rogers if he so chose. The new order propelled Minnesota's bullpen to the best in baseball by FIP in the second half (3.56).

The rotation was more straightforward; Berríos, Odorizzi, Pérez, Kyle Gibson, and Michael Pineda made all but 16 of the team’s starts in 2019, gobbling innings that varied from great (Berríos, Odorizzi,) to good (Pineda), to meh (Gibson, Pérez).

Playoffs
The team won 101 games, the most since they won 102 in 1965, and fended off a hearty challenge from Cleveland to win the AL Central. Their reward? The Yankees. Woof. 

Game One tilted Minnesota’s way after Polanco and Cruz blasted solo homers, but New York piled on in the middle innings to make it a 10-4 laugher. Game Two was much of the same—but with a twist. Pineda, who was a reliable starter all season, was hit with a 60-game suspension at the beginning of September after he tested positive for hydrochlorothiazide, rendering him ineligible for postseason play. The Twins turned to rookie Randy Dobnak for the start, hoping his sharp sinker and solid regular-season showing would conjure some good fortune. It didn’t. A Yankees 7-spot in the third inning essentially ended the match. Game Three’s loss was inevitable. 

Concluding Thoughts
This team was good--damn good. Their home run ability was surreal, and it seemed like their pitching should have been enough to win them, I don’t know, at least one playoff game. Two-and-a-half starters and a solid bullpen are enough for most teams; I guess luck never bothered to show up for them when it mattered most.

Still, their consistency and outright domination in the regular season is a marvel to look back on. They lost three games in a row once, four games in a row once, and… that was it. They were healthily above .500 every month, with a 13-11 July serving as their worst showing. Obviously, postseason success matters too, but I think this team belongs up there with the likes of 1970—a team very similar in outcomes to this one.

"The Bomba Squad was great. Maybe it was the juiced ball... But all those "piranhas" labels were out the window when they broke the single-season home-run mark. Cruz was a story. Kepler hit 36. Garver. Sano. Rosario. I mean, it didn't matter. Ryan LaMarre was acquired as an extra outfielder in mid-September from the Braves, whose AAA season was done. He happened to be in the Twins Cities with his wife and her family. He hit homers. Down 3-1 in the 8th... three-run homer from Marwin. It was just crazy. Also illustrated why maybe giving up some offense to add pitching was a good idea.  101 wins too." -Seth Stohs

"Bombas and a decent rotation before injuries and suspensions. Kepler, Polanco, and Buxton were great until they got hurt. Nelson Cruz." -Hans Birkeland

"The Bomba Squad! A 101-win season. The most home runs ever. The best run differential in team history (+185). It’s already slipping my mind that these guys also had two All-Star starting pitchers (José Berríos and Jake Odorizzi), went a ridiculous 55-26 on the road and were 23-12 in one-run games. I guess it's easy to forget some of the details when a team rips your heart out in the end." - Tom Froemming

"The Bomba Squad was the most fun team to watch. Even if they were down by 4+ runs, it never felt like they were out of a game. The ending was brutal, but it was probably the most fun regular season of Twins baseball I have ever seen. Plus, Taylor Rogers was a driving force out of the bullpen." -Cody Schoenmann

What do you think of the 2019 Twins? Were they ranked too high or too low? Do you have any special memories of them? Leave a comment below and start the discussion.

Previous Entries:
#10 - 2010
#9 - 2023
#8 - 2002
#7 - 1970
Honorable Mentions

View full article

[Karbo]

A fun team to watch.

[gman]

A very interesting team to watch, but unfortunately proved to be a not very sustainable model. I think 6th place is to high a spot for this team. My placement on this list would probably be at best 9th place.

[tony&rodney]

This was a fun team to watch. Unfortunately, through no fault of their own, Manfredball decided that baseball should use a superball in 2019. That and other actually better teams pushes this squad out of the top ten.

[Boswell]

MLB decided to go with regular balls for the postseason.  Ed-DEE still came through in Game 3.  Too little, too late.  So it goes. 

[snellman]

It was a very fun team to watch every day.  The characters on offense were a blast and the pitching staff was better than expected.  The Kelly and Gardenhire days were small ball teams and it was great to finally see the twins step away from the small ball and follow the long ball philosophy.

[Blyleven2011]

It was a great regular season  , lots of double digit wins , no big losing streak .... 

And we finally beat the Yankees at something  307 to 306 in homeruns  ...

An easy season for the first year manager to win the manager of the year award , was he worthy of it because all the players had career year ( you decide )  ...

We added Dyson and Romo at deadline ...

Playoffs was rough  , starting rookie Dobnak in New York  wasn't the smartest move ( fans in New York are brutal on the opposing team ) , they still should have went with odorizze  in game 2 ,

They pitched odorizze game 3 at home because he pitched better at target field  , and the rest is history  , except the FO still thinks all their players are homerun hitters ...

[Rod Carews Birthday]

A truly fun group to watch, but by the end of the season were lacking pitching depth to compete in the playoffs.  They certainly get extra points for just being able to punish the baseball though.  Go Bomba Squad!

 

[jmlease1]

2019 team is a really interesting squad. yes, the superball helped them out, but it helped everyone out; it's not like they used one ball at Target Field and another one elsewhere. The depth in the lineup was pretty spectacular; this was a team that really wore pitchers out because there was nowhere you could get a break. (a season like this also really shows the advantage of OPS+ and ERA+ as stats, putting things in the context of the league that season)

They just didn't have the starting pitching; Berrios was a playoff quality starter, and while Odorizzi looked the part that season as well, without Pineda they didn't have a 3rd guy, and Odo was pretty much a "5 and fly" guy. They did a good job shuffling together a quality bullpen, but this team showed how hard it was to slug your way to a title. Losing Buxton certainly didn't help.

This was also the "don't hit it to the left side" team: Polanco, Sano, and Rosario were all more about the bat.

Still a pretty great team; it's really hard to win a 100 games, even in an era where you had teams tanking, and the Bomba Squad was awfully fun to watch. 5 players with 30+ HRs, 8 with 20+ HRs, and 11 with 10+ HRs. Heck they hit over 300 doubles as a team as well! Of the 15 guys who played at least 50 games and had over 200 PAs, 13 had an OPS+ over 100. (the two that didn't were Marwin Gonzalez at 94, not bad for a utility guy, and Astudillo at 79)