A (Twins) Territory Divided

However, the counter argument is that good teams don't give up 6+ runs a game, or get beat by a large margin on a frequent basis. You are correct that a loss is a loss regardless of the margin, but run differential remains as as one of the tools you can use to help determine if a team's record is supported by the play on the field, and how good the team is. When's the last time a world series team had a run differential similar to what the Twins have this year? (I don't know, so it's a legitimate question I should try to research!)

The beloved 87 Twins,  05 Padres, 07 Arizona, 84 Royals,  and the 97 Giants. made the playoffs with a negative run differential.  Texas in 15 and 16 were very close to even.  Less than 20 to the positive  The 2014 Cards, also sneaked in.  As the back end of rotations get worse it will be possible for good teams to have negative run differentials and still have some success in the playoffs.

The beloved 87 Twins,  05 Padres, 07 Arizona, 84 Royals,  and the 97 Giants. made the playoffs with a negative run differential.  Texas in 15 and 16 were very close to even.  Less than 20 to the positive  The 2014 Cards, also sneaked in.  As the back end of rotations get worse it will be possible for good teams to have negative run differentials and still have some success in the playoffs.

Thanks for the research. Of course none of those teams was even close to the Twins current -61 differential. Only one was even more than -20, the 05 Padres at -42. So, I don't really think any of them has a differential even in the neighborhood of where the 2017 Twins sit at this point. The Twins will have to outscore their opponents by 40 runs the rest of the way to get to the mean of those teams. That would be an awesome turn around though!

I'm pretty sure they can.

Really? They're 64 and 32. .66 win %. That's 111 wins. They're very good. But that's a tough pace to maintain for 162 and still have anything left for the playoffs.

Twins have a decently talented club. Young and very capable of catching fire for several weeks.

I can pretty much guarantee that any business, particularly one in the entertainment business, cares about getting blasted in the media.

 

They earn their money by selling their product. Perception of that product is pretty important. They've gone from selling out the season in TFs first season to less than 2/3 full.

 

They care, and what's more, the media would be correct in blasting them, and I think more people than not would agree with that sentiment.

 

As for players, I'm going to guess that things like this matter when FAs decide between competitive offers, too.

Yes, I too sometimes wonder what free agents think about going to Minnesota? They have a long history of dumping people, they did quite well with free agents back in the late 80's and early 90's, (Jack Morris, Don Baylor, Chili Davis, etc....) but I can't think of any real good ones as of late, except the big singings of Nolasco, Hughes, and Santana