18 Reasons To Watch The Final 18 Twins Games

After reading my 18, discuss what else will keep you watching... if you're still watching.

Number 1 - Brian Dozier

On Monday in Detroit, the Twins second baseman joined an elite club. He joined Harmon Killebrew as the only members of the 40 Home Run Club in Twins history. He has had a very interesting season to say that least, but since late May, he has been one of the best players in major league baseball. Hopefully he can end the season strong. He is seven RBIs from 100, and he’s four runs scored from 100. Whether you’re on the side of trading him in the offseason or not, let’s just enjoy the show he is putting on right now.

Number 2 - Byron Buxton

In the 11 games since Buxton has been back with the Twins, he has been more aggressive. He has had success. He has five home runs in those 11 games. He’s turned singles into double. He has done, in this small sample size, what we hope that he will show Twins fans for the next decade. The defense is always elite with Buxton. His presence in center field can be a big factor in making the Twins pitching staff better. Let’s just watch and hope that he continues this nice stretch and can go into the offseason with a lot more confidence.

Number 3 - Miguel Sano

If a “bad” season is going to results in 25 homers, I think we know how great Sano’s bat can be. He left Monday night’s game with lower back soreness. Hopefully it’s minor so that he can play most of the remaining games. We saw a couple of plays on defense that show he could be an adequate or solid defensive third baseman. We’ve seen plenty of examples that show that he shouldn't play defense, anywhere. But it would be nice to see him get more time at third base to help the front office (whoever that is) have more data points in their evaluation. It’s also great to see his bat in the middle of the lineup. There’s no question he’ll hit going forward. But will he play any defense?

Number 4 - Max Kepler

He’s certainly cooled off with the bat the last few weeks, but he’s been very solid for a rookie with the bat. He’s also been real good defensively with some very good plays in the last handful of games. He struggled against lefty Daniel Norris, dropping his batting average against southpaws below .200 for the season. A year ago in AA, he hit lefties and righties pretty evenly, so getting him more at bats against same-siders will be good. Again, like Buxton and Sano, Kepler is an elite talent who is going to be a big part of the team’s future. Every at-bat, and every ball he fields and throws will help him grow.

Number 5 - Jose Berrios

Speaking of big pieces of the Twins future, I think we can all agree that Berrios fits into that category. It’s been a tough go for Berrios in the big leagues most times out in his young career, but the 22-year-old has the stuff and makeup to overcome this and still be strong. Clearly, he’s got to command the strike zone better with his plus stuff, but he’s showing how important control of all pitches and consistency are. With the position players, it’s easy to say start them every day. With a young starting pitcher who is struggling so much right now, it’s fair to ask whether it’s better for him short-term and long-term to continue starting or work in long-relief in no-pressure situations? I won’t pretend to know the answer. I tend to think long relief in an attempt to let him gain some confidence.

Number 6 - The Crawl to 100

It’s the theme on the Twins Daily Pub Crawl 2016 shirts. With 18 games to go, the Twins would have to finish 9-9 to avoid losing 100 games. To avoid the worst record in Twins history (60-102 in 1982), the Twins would need to go 6-12. I don’t feel real confident on either of those.

Number 7 - Jorge Polanco

Maybe not an elite prospect like the four mentioned above, Polanco firmly sits in that next level of prospect. Getting him every day a- bats should be a priority, and he’s shown that he has a chance to be a productive hitter. The question with him is where should he play in the field. Before the season, the Twins made the decision that he wouldn’t play shortstop. Before his promotion, he played zero innings at shortstop all year. And, after seeing him the last couple of years at shortstop, there was little question that it was the right decision. With the Twins, that is where he has played the last six weeks. With Brian Dozier at second base (assuming he’s not traded), it is where he would have to play with no changes. Hopefully he gets another 15 starts or so at shortstop to further evaluate his defense there.

Number 8 - The Starting Rotation After Santana

These could probably be all separate numbers, but let’s lump them together. Aside from Ervin Santana, there is a lot to prove for the rest of the rotation in their final three or four starts. Kyle Gibson will be arbitration-eligible for the first time. After taking a step forward in 2015, he was hurt early this season and one has to wonder if he’s fully healthy as he has struggled most of the time in 2016. However, he’s shown flashes. So has Tyler Duffey. He’s had a couple of strong outings, but he’s been nowhere near what he was over the final six weeks last year for the Twins. He still has just two pitches and his command has not been the same. He should get more time as a starter before moving him to the bullpen, but he needs to find something in the final three weeks. Hector Santiago has been an OK starting pitcher for the Angels for a long time. He’s been an All-Star (2015) and he’d frustrated the Angels brass to the point that they were willing to take Ricky Nolasco (and Alex Meyer) to let him go. He listened to Twins coaching after coming to the team. He threw more strikes but he got lit up. In his last two or three starts, he’s gone back to what he did with the Angels and he’s been much better. Will the Twins tender him a contract for 2017? Probably, but three or four more starts could solidify their decision.

Number 9 - JT Chargois

It’s easy to look at Chargois’s 6.60 ERA (coming into Monday night’s game in which he had a nine-pitch 1-2-3 innings). It’s easy to see 11 walks and ten strikeouts in 16 innings. However, in his last six outings, he’s walked two and struck out six in 5.2 innings. The Twins deserve a lot of credit for his return from missing two years after Tommy John. They also, maybe frustratingly, took care of him early this season too. He began in AA and then advanced to AAA. He rarely worked in back-to-back games or more than one inning. With the Twins, he has been used more. He appears to be figuring some things out. Hopefully that will continue the rest of the way and he can be relied upon in 2017!

Number 10 - Pat Light

Light has also struggled with his control since coming up to the Twins. In 9.1 innings, he has ten walks to go with nine strikeouts. That isn’t a surprise. His stats in the Red Sox organization indicated his ability to throw hard and get strikeouts, but that he also often had control problems. No reason to give up on Light at this point. Not only is he trying to navigate his way through his first extended big league time, he’s doing it late in the season (which might explain some of the velocity drop in the last two weeks) and for a new organization. That’s a lot of learning and stress. While he may not put himself in position to make the Opening Day roster next year, a strong end to his season could help him gain confidence heading into next season.

Number 11 - The Rest Of The Bullpen

There are a lot of questions in the entire Twins bullpen as we look toward 2017. It starts with how ready will Glen Perkins be at the beginning of the season. In my mind, Brandon Kintzler, Ryan Pressly and Taylor Rogers have established themselves as reliable for 2017. Trevor May is a major league pitcher, but a decision needs to be made on whether or not he should start or continue to come out of the bullpen. Unfortunately, he’s still not 100% and we won’t really be able to see the full May here in September. Buddy Boshers is a nice story in that he came out of the independent leagues, which should not be held against him after a solid season. He’s got enough fastball and his breaking pitches are pretty good. Ryan O’Rourke has shown what he can do against left-handers, but he’s improved some against righties too. It’ll be a big final three weeks for those two lefties. And Pat Dean can potentially help his cause if he can finish strong as a long reliever/spot starter. Michael Tonkin is another guy who has had ups and downs throughout the season. He just came back after missing a little over a week. He can improve his roster position with a strong end to his season. Alex Wimmers went through a lot to get to the big leagues. He’s there, and he is excited for the opportunity. He can make an impression too.

Number 12 - Joe Mauer

Mauer is likely to miss a couple of games in the next few days with his quad injury. It’s been clear for over a week that he has not been able to run because of his quads, so this is a wise thing. He isn’t what he once was (hey, neither am I), but he’s still a productive MLB player who has been a Top 5 MLB player in Twins history, so enjoy it. If he can walk 10 more times, he’d have his second-best walk season of his career and 15 would tie his career-high. One more triple would be a career high five. Two more homers would tie his best home run season (not counting that 2009 MVP season) and tie him with Jacque Jones for 11th in Twins history with 132.

Number 13 - James Beresford

In a September where 100 losses is likely, there has to be a feel-good story. While the Alex Wimmers story is tremendous, it’s the second-best story to James Beresford’s. He signed with the Twins in 2005. He was called up for the first time last Monday after four seasons in Rochester and over 1,070 minor league games. On Saturday, he made his big league debut at third base. He lined a single to center for his first big league hit, dropped down a sacrifice bunt and made some nice plays at third base. On Sunday, he played first base and notched his first extra base hit, a double off of Cleveland’s Corey Kluber. He may not play a lot, but he can have a role as a utility infielder, late-inning defensive replacement, pinch runner or more.

Number 14 - Paul Molitor

Owner Jim Pohlad has backed the Hall of Fame player as his manager a couple of times.A dreaded vote of confidence, or do they mean it? Lineup construction. Bullpen usage. A fixation on sacrifice bunting. We could go on and on with things that Molitor has not done well as a manager. We thought because of his willingness to shift and his baseball IQ that he would be more new school than his predecessor, Ron Gardenhire. Aside from an occasional shift, it’s hard to see where Molitor is any less old school than Gardenhire was. However, in an attempt to be fair to to Molitor, he’s working with many young players that need to play (see the guys mentioned at the top of this article) and a pitching staff that has been terrible. How much of that can or should really be thrown at Molitor? That’s for the next President of Baseball Operations and General Manager to determine, I guess. But in these last 18 games, we can see how Molitor handles various situations.

Number 15 - John Ryan Murphy

I’m curious how much Molitor will play Murphy down the stretch. We all know he was bad early in the season, and he struggled most of the year in in Rochester too. He finished strong in Rochester, hitting over .300 in August. He just turned 25 in May. He is known as a solid defensive catcher, which should be a priority for any catcher in 2017 and beyond. And, he does have a history of some offensive production. In 99 games with the Yankees between 2014 and 2015, he hit .280/.324/.394 (.718). If he can put up numbers list that with good defense… well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. But, let’s give him some starts in September and see what happens.

Number 16 - What Else Are You Going To Do?

Clean the garage? Bring the radio. Yard work? Radio. Fall house cleaning? Keep the TV on. Go to a movie? Umm… matinees are cheaper, so pick a time when the game isn’t on. Go to work? Radio, or listen online. Watch football? I mean, there are only 18 games left, and that’s it. Follow football during Twins commercials or on Twitter or by keeping tabs on your fantasy football team. After 18 more games, you can watch as much football as you want.

Number 17 - Because You’re A Twins Fan

You’re going to feel a lot better about yourself when the Twins get back to the playoffs and then win a World Series in a few years. You’ll be able to say, I was with them through the really bad times, that season they lost over 100 games, and I’m happy to see how far these players and this team have come since. Hey, if you frequent Twins Daily, you’re already a die-hard Twins fan. You’d probably feel guilty not watching them.

Number 18 - Your Turn

I’ve got nothing more. So, number 18 will be up to you. If I missed any reasons to continue watching the Twins for the final 18 games, share them in the comments below.