Greatest Twins Teams of All Time: 2023

Call them the Streak-Breakers, the Slump-Busters, or the Ponche Posse. The 2023 Twins were a fun bunch.

Overview
The glories of the 2019 season were far in the past. The team never put itself together in 2021 and completely fell apart at the end of 2022, and 2020 effectively never happened. All of that placed Minnesota’s top brass in a precarious position. Was this the core to push in on? Could the veterans from 2019 find it in them to break through again?

To make things harder, Carlos Correa was no longer around: the All-Star shocked the world by signing a deal with the Twins before 2022. Every party knew his original pact was effectively a one-year deal, but perhaps playing in the Twin Cities—breathing in the culture—would convince him to stay. No dice. The shortstop signed with San Francisco for… hold up; it looks like that deal fell through. Never mind; the Mets are right here to snatch him up. With Francisco Lindor already set at shortstop, the altruistic Correa will simply move to 3rd… wait, it happened again? Shoot. May as well come home, then. 

Correa is back in town—and with Pablo López leading the rotation (following a bold trade of the 2022 AL batting champion, Luis Arraez)—the Twins are hoping their high-end talent can bring them back to the top of the AL Central.

Lineup
This was about as ensemble a cast as a team can build, while still finding success. Eleven players clocked in at a wRC+ over 100, with a trio of rookies—Edouard Julien, Matt Wallner, and Royce Lewis—at the top of the pack. Max Kepler effected a second breakout, slashing .260/.332/.484. Ryan Jeffers enjoyed his first full-fledged one, hitting .276/.369/.490.

But spotlighting any one player misses the beauty of this team. As good as those previous hitters were, guys like Michael A. Taylor and Donovan Solano were just as important, filling in whenever needed and providing value when called upon. Taylor’s presence was especially critical, given that Byron Buxton never played an inning in center at the major-league level. And how about Willi Castro? Minnesota brought him on before the season, assuming he’d be nothing more than minor-league depth. He turned into a legitimate offensive weapon and baserunning leviathan, swiping 33 bags while playing every position except for first base and catcher. 

Well, maybe Lewis deserves a spotlight. After going first overall in 2017, the Aliso Viejo, Cal. native labored in the minors—with some thanks to the absent 2020 season—and only reached the majors in 2022. He played 12 brilliant games before tearing his ACL for the second time in his career. Returning in 2023, Lewis appeared to understand how precious playing time can be; he slashed .309/.372/.548 with—if you can believe it—four grand slams in a 20-game stretch. We’ll hear more from him soon.

Pitching
Much like the lineup, the September Twins rotation wasn’t quite the one they started with. López and Sonny Gray never missed a start, and were often brilliant when they pitched. Gray finished second in the AL Cy Young voting. However, the back half of the starting pack shuffled. What started as a Joe Ryan, Tyler Mahle, and Kenta Maeda trio quickly involved Bailey Ober, once Mahle went down with elbow issues. He underwent Tommy John surgery in May, and Ober was suddenly a rotation fixture.

He was brilliant. Armed with a deceptively tricky fastball, the 6’9” righty gave the team 144 ⅓ innings of 3.43 ERA ball, leading him to the third-highest rWAR of any pitcher on the team after he started the year at Triple-A St. Paul.

The bullpen was even more complicated (when isn't it?), as reliability was hard to find and consistency was non-existent. Jhoan Durán continued to be brilliant, although a little less so than in 2022, and Griffin Jax and Emilio Pagán were late-inning fixtures, but Jorge López’s implosion left the team looking for depth. Fireballer Brock Stewart mowed down hitters when called upon, but he was only available for 27 ⅔ frames. A handful of failed middle-inning arms amounted to little. Jordan Balazovics and José De Leóns came and went. This was easily the weakest part of the team. 

Playoffs
This is, I suspect, the reason why this team ranked so highly. Following nearly 20 years and countless failed attempts at winning a single playoff game, the 2023 Twins not only notched a postseason victory on Oct. 3, but followed it up with two more wins to give the team a trio of victories—enough to call for a parade in downtown.

That didn’t happen, but the wins were nice. Minnesota squeaked out two close victories against the Blue Jays—the first won by a pair of solo homers from Lewis, backing up excellent pitching from López and friends; the second from brilliant heads-up defense and Toronto manager John Schneider inexplicably yanking José Berríos in the fourth inning—before they reached the Big Bad Astros in the ALDS.

Houston dispatched Minnesota in four games. The Twins made it a series after swiping Game Two on the Astros’ home turf, but Game Three was a laugher, and the team ran out of juice in a Game Four crier. 

Concluding Thoughts
Is this a case of recency bias? Perhaps, but I think this team has a legitimate claim of being amongst the best Minnesota has seen. Their meager 87 wins belie a more impressive 93-69 Pythagorean win-loss total. They also went 37-36 against teams at or above .500, sixth-best in the league, and better than the eventual World Series champion Rangers.

But, of course, this is about those playoff wins. You’d have to go back to 2002 to find a Twins team with more postseason victories in a single season, and they’re one of just 15 Twins teams even to play baseball beyond the regular season. Those three playoff wins tie them with the 1965 team for the fourth-most in team history (seriously!). Some of that is sleight of hand, given that the World Series served as the lone playoff series until 1969 and that the Division Series only came into being following the team’s two World Series wins, but that total certainly swayed voters. 

Ultimately, this team had two dominant starting pitchers, excellent depth, and enough power to flip games when needed. That recipe served them well in both the regular season and postseason, even if they lacked the star power that usually fuels great teams. 

"The end of the 0-18 narrative. The end of not winning a series. A true transition from a team that could always hit to a team focused on pitching... Gray. Lopez... Maeda... bullpen. Won the division handily and gives us excitement again." -Seth Stohs

"Royce Lewis, Pablo Lopez, Carlos Correa, Ed Julien, Jhoan Durán, ended the streak and put a scare into the Astros." -Hans Birkeland

"The team that ended the streak! Also, this was my first year writing for Twins Daily. This was the most enjoyable season of Twins baseball in my life, and it will always hold a special place in my heart." -Cody Schoenmann

What do you think of the 2023 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.

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