Twins Fans Are Being Robbed of History

Maybe this is what we deserve.

During Saturday’s blowout game against the Blue Jays, Manuel Margot was replaced in the sixth inning with groin tightness. Sunday morning, Margot landed on the 10-day injured list. A particular type of fan—we’ll affectionately refer to them as “sickos” henceforth—is devastated.

Why, you ask? History.

Our friend Margot has been chasing history, if you weren't aware. I wrote about it a month ago. In addition to his exploits in the field, Margot has been historically bad as a pinch-hitter. Only two players in MLB have been asked to pinch-hit more often than Margot, yet Margot has no hits as a pinch-hitter.

Sickos and disgruntled fans have been tracking this story all year, though probably for different reasons. And now, it’s been taken away from us, just on the cusp of history. On Aug. 30, Margot dug in as a pinch-hitter for the 33rd time all season, and worked a walk. That’s 33 pinch-hitting plate appearances without a hit. The record for most plate appearances as a pinch-hitter without a hit in a season? Thirty-four, by Jonny Gomes in 2011. In a typical year, the least successful pinch-hitter has around 15 appearances.

Now, with just a couple dozen games to play, Margot’s odds of breaking the record look bleak. Manager Rocco Baldelli, who started the year by using Margot as a pinch-hitter in five of the first six games, has scaled back Margot’s usage off the bench in recent months. Still, Margot only needed one more unsuccessful trip to the plate to tie the record, and then one more to break it. Even if Margot only misses the minimum of 10 days, he’ll have just 17 games in a pennant race. Each game he misses beyond the minimum makes it less likely, and recovery from groin injury is hard to predict.

This actually marks the second time in the past two years that the injury bug has let down the sickos. In 2023, Carlos Correa was hobbled by plantar fasciitis that, along with bad luck, contributed to a league-leading 30 double plays grounded into. That injury led to Correa sitting out the final 11 games of the season.

At one point, Correa was on track to break the single-season record, but his “production” also slowed, and his season was cut short. Correa was less likely than Margot to set a new record, needing to ground into six double plays in the team’s final 11 games, but it’s frustrating he didn’t have the full opportunity to go for it.

Even when the Twins have managed to set unfortunate records in the past couple of years, it’s been for naught. In 2023, behind the bats of Joey Gallo, Michael A. Taylor, Byron Buxton, and Edouard Julien, the Twins set the all-time record for strikeouts as a team with 1,654. As we speak, the 2024 Seattle Mariners are on pace to challenge that record with a projected 1,649 for the season (they currently sit at 1,430, with 21 games to go), and Colorado could also compete for the record, sitting at 1,393 (on pace for 1,600).

And don’t even get me started on the Twins ending their run of 18 straight playoff losses. That’s a record that won’t be broken anytime soon, but it would take the squad a decade to get another streak to 19. Why do bad things happen to sick fans?

We, Minnesota sports fans, are so bad at being cursed that we can’t even hold on to curses. The sickos among us mourn.