Twins Ready to Rewrite Playoff History

The Major League Baseball regular season is an absolute marathon. Despite what the shortened 60-game Covid season tried to impose upon fans, living through every single outcome over a 162-game stretch is not necessary. Sure, the Twins played in one of baseball’s worst divisions this year, but they handled business and won it. Down the stretch, they have played at a 90-plus win pace, and they are going to host a wild card series.

Suggesting that all things are equal in the postseason would be unfair. While Minnesota will have home field advantage, the reality is that they will be hosting a team with a better record. Given the pitching matchups, they should find themselves favored in at least one of the contests, but it’s not a clear coin flip at any point. That said, the statistical improbability of losing 18 straight is wild in and of itself.

The Twins should win a playoff game in 2023 simply because logic says it will happen.

Beyond that though, the Twins should win a playoff game, and maybe even a series, because this team isn’t impacted by the past. Of the holdovers from 2020, the last time Minnesota made the postseason, only Kenta Maeda, Caleb Thielbar, Ryan Jeffers, Jorge Polanco, Alex Kirilloff, and Max Kepler remain. If Byron Buxton joins the active roster again, he too would be included in the bunch. For Carlos Correa, Sonny Gray, Pablo Lopez, and the rest of Rocco Baldelli’s leaders, what happened in the past couldn’t be less of a concern. 

It’s not as though this current Twins contingent hasn’t heard about the ineptitude of the franchise in the postseason. In fact, Kyle Farmer addressed it head on with Audra Martin on the night in which Minnesota clinched the AL Central. His take is perfectly on par though, and assuming something as silly as a jinx exists couldn’t be more misleading.

With the Toronto Blue Jays coming to Target Field, the Twins will take their positions like they have done every other time this year. These games are worth holding onto every happening, and viewing through a microscope, but the outcome of at least one of them will be positive and end an ugly storyline for the fanbase.

When Baldelli took the Twins to the postseason in 2020, the same lack of care for those players could be said. Few of them were around in 2017, and none of them cared about that result. The team that made it through the Covid race was flawed though, and had much less to bring to the table. Josh Donaldson was hurt and couldn’t go, the pitching left plenty to be desired, and the lineup was plenty flawed in its own right.

Getting healthy at the right time, inserting players like Chris Paddack and Brock Stewart back into the fold all push the water level higher. Having a roster that has battled through adversity and continued to come out on top matters. Seeing a front office bet on this collection and be right about their overall ability should be a confidence boosting measure as well.

Expectations in Twins Territory are rarely high. This group will go into the postseason with one of the lowest sets of World Series odds. No one is expecting them to win a round, and plenty will assume they can’t grab a game. That all falls on the side of favor for the home team, and gives them an opportunity to play loose while going out and getting it done.

The fact that 0-18 exists is awful, absolutely. The reality that it exists doesn’t have any impact on the players in the clubhouse, and it certainly won’t stop them from getting a win if they execute at the level we have seen. It’s time for the talking point to cease, and that’s much easier once the streak has ended.

Like Kyle Farmer said, “We’re gonna get that first win, I promise you that."