Guardians 3, Twins 2 (10 Innings): Twins Walked Off Again, Cleveland Clinches Playoff Berth, Twins and Tigers Tied

Season's over. You're all welcome to join me on the Mets bandwagon. I'm headed to Citi Field here shortly! 

I hope they lose bad and fans finally start realizing that if you don't attend the games , eventually the owners will sell or invest in the team. 

This is a joke of an organization and I don't fault the players, but I fault the owners. A pathetic display of greed.

This started a long time ago. It’s pretty easy to argue that the Twins played a little better overall in this series than they had been. Were 9-17 in their last 26 games headed into the series. Consistently losing series to all types of teams, and nothing working well.

Ironically, we’re relatively healthy…back end of rotation making baby steps…and SHOULD be capable of digging out of it. But 10-20 (in last 30 games) is a long time of being really bad, and time is running out.

So Cleveland wins the division with 75% of the Twins payroll and people think every problem would go away if the Pohlads spend more money? I'm not disagreeing they aren't part of the problem, because they are. But if your direct competitor does more with less then it's clearly more of a front office, player, and manager issue.

At the end of play on August 17, the Twins were 10.5 games up on the Tigers….with a +75 run differential relative to the Tigers. Now, they’re tied, and the Twins are -6 run differential relative to the Tigers.

That was 33 days ago.

Gleeman always helps me put things into perspective. 

1 minute ago, thelanges5 said:

Gleeman always helps me put things into perspective. 

 

When he wrote the allegory of the cave in The Republic nearly 2500 years ago, Plato surely never fathomed the gut punches to be experienced regularly by Minnesota sports fans. Yet his point remains true that those of us seeing only shadows of reality and not what's actually happening are insufficiently knowledgeable about the reasons.

We can see the end result. However, much opinion is given here to the why. I interpret the shadows thus:

• Given a slump of at least a week's duration, Rocco Baldelli's Twins are rudderless, and this happened in late 2022 as well. Yet these Twins never quit trying to play their best.
• The Twins of the Falvine era consistently suffer injuries to key players above the number and duration experienced by other teams. Yet they are building a deep farm system that concentrates on maximizing strikeouts for pitchers and OPS for field players.
• The Twins have not solved their media revenue issues durably, and that will limit payroll to below what fans here seek to remain competitive.

What to do given these assumptions? That's someone else's job. Go Twins, regardless.

19 minutes ago, exeoud said:

So Cleveland wins the division with 75% of the Twins payroll and people think every problem would go away if the Pohlads spend more money? I'm not disagreeing they aren't part of the problem, because they are. But if your direct competitor does more with less then it's clearly more of a front office, player, and manager issue.

You are right, it's not just payroll. But the Cleveland organization is just better top to bottom. They've produced so much more talent over the last two decades than the Twins. 

47 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

Season's over. You're all welcome to join me on the Mets bandwagon. I'm headed to Citi Field here shortly! 

I don’t think so-I’ll stick with my twins. Pitching match ups favor twin-rough stretch right now but Detroit has Baltimore we got Boston when Monday hits we will have at least a 2 game lead. 

46 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

No bandwagon here.  Been meeting the Mets since 1980

I grew up in the NY/NJ area back in the late 50's and 60's, and lived there thru the early 80's The Mets were my team as a kid. Seaver, Koosman, the Tugger. 1969 was a beautiful thing! Loved them and there's always a spot in my heart for them. Still follow the Mets even though I've lived in Mn since 82. I'm die hard Twins now, but that's the thing...I'm dying hard watching them.

The only question I have is can they get over .500…. Time to move on from the GM and his puppet manager… I say puppet because most believe Rocco is just an extension of the ….. whatever they are doing it doesn’t work.

27 minutes ago, Peter said:

I don’t think so-I’ll stick with my twins. Pitching match ups favor twin-rough stretch right now but Detroit has Baltimore we got Boston when Monday hits we will have at least a 2 game lead. 

I have more faith the the Vikings will be 3-0 than the Twins having a winning weekend in Beantown. Go Vikings!

8 minutes ago, MMMordabito said:

I have more faith the the Vikings will be 3-0 than the Twins having a winning weekend in Beantown. Go Vikings!

I’m huge Vikings fan as well but that can wait-Twins are top priority!!!

1 hour ago, exeoud said:

So Cleveland wins the division with 75% of the Twins payroll and people think every problem would go away if the Pohlads spend more money? I'm not disagreeing they aren't part of the problem, because they are. But if your direct competitor does more with less then it's clearly more of a front office, player, and manager issue.

I would put it on coaching. Period. Rocco does not inspire 100% from his players.  Therefore the players lack focus and motivation. What a shame because good young players will learn bad habits under his leadership.

2 hours ago, exeoud said:

So Cleveland wins the division with 75% of the Twins payroll and people think every problem would go away if the Pohlads spend more money? I'm not disagreeing they aren't part of the problem, because they are. But if your direct competitor does more with less then it's clearly more of a front office, player, and manager issue.

Payroll does not equal talent. Cleveland's return on the $ is much better than the Twins return is.

Vogt puts his players in roles they are comfortable with and the players play within these roles and their limitations. On paper the Twins are the better team - based on prospect lists and scouting reports - Cleveland gets more out of it's players and therefore gets better results.

Perspective. Over this 4-game set with Cleveland, the Twins got 11 rbi's. Shohei Ohtani got 10 rbi's . . . today.

I am so so glad these day games happen in the middle of the night for me.

Keeps my pillow dry from all the GD tears I'd have shed.

Cleveland has clinched a playoff spot , my heart has skipped a beat , the twins lineup has skipped showing up to play , 3 fricken hits and 1 earned run  ,...

I like pitchers duels as much as the next guy , but this is ridiculous  ...

It's back to changing the name again  , from twinkies to the Minnesota possums  ...

they play dead at home and get killed on the road ...

50 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

Been said already, but spending a lot (relatively for us) doesn’t necessarily equal wins. Ask the Mets (speaking of). 
 

This has been bad, even by Minnesota sports standards. Rare to see a collapse like this from the twins. In fact, I’d say it’s their biggest collapse of all time. Certainly the worst in terms of length.

The entire organization needs an enema. The lack of fundamentals, underperformance, poor talent evaluation (especially in trades/signings), the penchant for injury, and the continued practice of not putting your best lineup on the field most of the time is just exhausting. 

I’m totally fine with not seeing this team in the playoffs. They don’t deserve it anyway.

Hey! 

While this collapse is bad, we gotta remember this is a collapse from 5th best team in the league to maybe out of the playoffs. It doesn't meet the standards for worst of all time imo. 

Come on boys time to flush another one. Let’s go 4-2 over the next two series heading to that last weekend with a two game lead and wrap this thing up.