It is So, So Important That the Twins Win a Game Tuesday Night

[Matthew Trueblood]

Every game is worth .006 in win percentage at the end of the year, and each win is only 1.1% of what you need to reach the playoffs. But not all games are created equal. The Twins desperately need a win, so every can do the important work of shutting the heck up.

Image courtesy of © Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

There are two realities to everything: the objective, and the actual. They don't overlap perfectly. In fact, often, they barely touch at all. It would be great if the world and its inhabitants eventually bent themselves to the objective reality of each situation, but for the most part, we live in a world dominated by emotional and misinformed reactions to things—because the ramifications of those reactions can't be erased simply because they're misgiven. Humans are irrational, and worse, they're bad at corralling the irrationality of others. Much more often, they give in to it, because they were fighting strong impulses to be the same way before they encountered the irrational person right in front of them.

Thence come the shrieks and allegations of cheating in response to the Yankees becoming one of several teams to try out slightly different-shaped baseball bats. Thence, too, comes everyone's angst about their team's performance with the bases loaded, or the way their team hits left-handed pitchers, or the reliability of their bullpen. There are fans who are very worried about the ball being juiced this spring, and there are fans who are very worried about the ball being especially dead, and the near-certain truth that the ball is playing fair will take weeks to get a full hearing—if it does, at all. This is just how our culture is wired—especially online, and especially, perhaps, in sports.

Unfair as this might be, then, I'm forced to admit it: The Twins simply have to win Tuesday night. Losing a fifth straight game to start this particular season—coming off a collapse last August and September; after an unsatisfying offseason and an abortive effort to sell the team on the part of unpopular owners; and against two teams who don't even expect to post winning records this year—might just shatter the already-fragile collective mind of the Minnesota sports fan. Twins TV had a rocky launch. Carlos Correa, Byron Buxton and Matt Wallner are a combined 2-for-36 to start the season.

The White Sox didn't just beat the Twins in the first game of their series. They blew their doors off, and nearly no-hit them in the process. Rocco Baldelli beat a hasty fourth-inning retreat, removing Buxton and Correa in the name of workload management in the very first week of a long season, before his team has had their first win or even their first sustained lead. The vibes are rancid, and yet, they can get worse. I'm here, and I'm more online than I care to be and I have family members who love the Twins, and I'm telling you: the truly radioactive vibes around this team can get even worse. If the Sox beat the Twins again Tuesday night, with Rule 5 Draft pick Shane Smith (see, they found a way to keep their hard-throwing Rule 5 guy in the building!) taking the mound for his first career appearance, we're all going to need contamination suits and evacuation plans. I don't want to eat Spam. I hate Spam.

Will the Twins be much less likely to win the AL Central if they lose Tuesday night than they are right now? No. But that just doesn't matter. This is the same case I tried to make when the team first scaled back their payroll in late 2023—the break of containment that has led to a rising risk of radioactivity poisoning in the broader baseball population. We're not automatons. We're not even healthy, well-adjusted, balanced humans who go to our jobs during the day, read to our kids at night, and check the box score each morning or the standings each Sunday in the newspaper. We are 24-hour news cycle gremlins, constantly overstimulated and obsessed and very, very worried, and the Twins need to win, because otherwise, people are going to continue freaking out. It won't fix everything, but the Twins need to win so the deeply damaged brains of this particular set of baseball fans can be soothed for a while. Then, we can revisit the urgency of a win again Wednesday.

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[Fire Dan Gladden]

Overreaction at the moment.  Plain and simple.
Be concerned, but stop feeding the end of the world narrative.

[silverslugger]

[twinstalker]

Not shocking at all, since the hitters are never prepared for the start of the season and not that good to begin with.  Plus predictable injuries with Julien and Gaspar as replacements.  There's something wrong with the Fort Myers culture.  What it is, I don't know, but it has seemed like a vacation in past years.  This year it seems more a vacation where you don't get to do everything you want, but still a vacation.

My prediction a week or so ago of a bad offense to start the season wasn't exactly prescient.  More...obvious.

[Whitey333]

The Twins will win tonight then at least for one night we will see how they tell us how great they are.  Going 0-4 isn't the end of the world in baseball.  But the way the Twins have been playing makes it appear that way.  Just like when they were choking away their playoff chances late last year.  They are playing the same uninspiring, boring baseball with no life to the team.  It is important they win tonight.  Or at least lose and play well which is something they haven't done yet.

[RpR]

IF they go 0-9 as they did nine years ago, THEN, there is a problem.

At that.

If the Twins still had Farmer, Kepler, Polanco and Santana they would have 17 more hits.

[shimrod]

As for the ball being juiced it's possible the fans on both sides are right. 

League has a history of providing "live" balls for favored teams.

 

[KirbyDome89]

Losing 5 or 6 straight games, similar to winning 5 or 6 in a row, kinda is a big deal....

Those types of streaks are how you torpedo a season or clinch a playoff berth. Context is far too often missing (and I said this in another thread) particularly when things aren't going well, i.e. "it's only 4 games." True, it's a very small percentage of the total games this team will play during the 2025 season, but of those 162 total games, or the 158 remaining, even the best teams are all but guaranteed to lose between 60-70 games, at minimum. Are the Twins one of the best teams in baseball? This is largely the same roster as last season. The best month last year was May, where they finished 4 games above .500.  Can they repeat that this April and fight back to .500? Does it take 2 months? What happens with the rest of the division, or AL, in the meantime? 

[mark sills]

best chance for a win tonight was pitching in st Paul 

[RpR]

If you check the game headlines , for all teams, there seem to be a LOT of new records being set across the league, including what the headline called - the least likely person - to hit for a cycle did.

It is early , and Chicago is not as bad as so many flatulate about here.

 

[David HK]

Just fired up the computer and saw that we already got 1 hit!!!  In the first inning!!  So, things are looking up, right?

Is this our game thread, by the way? 🤔

 

[ziggy]

I think it's mopre important that they play well tonight. The Twins have had very few crisp and cleanly played games in their last 50 or so.

[killebrewlover]

Important that the Twins win tonight???   How about it's important that the Twins win the next 90+ out of their next 158?!!!  They could win tonight, and it would mean nothing if they can't generate some better ball play consistency for the long haul.

It's time to sell the team to someone who will take action, clean house and rebuild from scratch.  Period.  If that means moving the Twins, so be it...

[darwin22]

Only a 1-run deficit in 3rd inning, but am I in the minority that's totally disgusted by the lack of effort by Correa JOGGING to first base on his 3-6-3 DP to end the inning?    Is it too much to ask Mr. $30million plus to actually hustle?  I guess so as there's no accountability in the organization from the ownership down to our manager.  

[HerbieFan]

Its only 4 games, but MAN does it look like the same complete lack of an approach as a team/organization.  And hopefully we see Festa for Paddack...and soon.

[mikelink45]

Not sure how to take this.  Is it important to win - of course.  The negativity is not just in the fans - don't think ballplayers are not aware of what records there are.  Do they press, are they frustrated?  Yes and yes.  

If we were blown out by the Dodgers, Yankees, Phillies we have some more ability to write it off.  The Cards and Sox were 125 - 200 .384.  We are suppose look forward to these series. 

Don't make fun of the fans who worry, don't panic over the SSS record, and don't underestimate the urgency of turning this around. 

[mark sills]

33 minutes ago, HerbieFan said:

Its only 4 games, but MAN does it look like the same complete lack of an approach as a team/organization.  And hopefully we see Festa for Paddack...and soon.

should see zebby first

[USAFChief]

"There are two realities to everything..."

 

Wait...what? Is this a White House press release??

 

[Schmoeman5]

50 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

"There are two realities to everything..."

 

Wait...what? Is this a White House press release??

 

Worse!