tony&rodney

Well, in all fairness that has been the case more than 10,000 times thus far against. Justin Verlander.

Ober is a hellava good pitcher. Even Sandy Koufax gave up a few home runs. The Twins need to score, that's all.

The Twins pitching has been pretty consistent all year. It might slip in a game or two but fans of the team can count on the pitching in my opinion. The Twins defense has been all over the map but fairly decent at making the outs. A few Twins look less than stellar in the field yet I'm comfortable with those awkward plays that result in an out. The primary pressure in this series will be on the Twins offense. They will need to lay off of pitches out of the zone and punish mistakes. The Twins have bats who can accomplish this and Houston pitchers will make enough mistakes to provide opportunities for Minnesota to score runs. This is actually the strength of the Astros offense right now, which will face a slew of Twins pitchers capable of throwing strikes on the edges of the strike zone. This series is a great matchup in my opinion and whomever manages to execute their plan should prevail in the games. National writers see the Astros as a far superior team while giving only a nod to the Twins pitchers and Correa. It is an opportunity for a number of unheralded Twins players to give the wider audience a chance to remember their names.

Bailey Ober has been pretty much good for 5+ innings, giving up 2 runs as a practice. I'm pumped for Ober to get the ball because he is really tough and will enjoy the atmosphere. The Twins need to score more runs in this series, but they can. One thing that may have been overlooked is how good the Toronto pitching staff was this year. Certainly Gausman is among the best starting pitchers in baseball. If guys like Julien, Wallner, Kirilloff, and Lewis can control the strike zone and lay off all of the tricks thrown by Verlander, the Twins can do very well. Go Ober. Go Twins.

Ober is a good choice for either Game 1 or 4. I think he would be really good on Saturday. Ryan goes in Game 4. Maeda is ready right away when he is needed. Funderburk is someone to keep but no surprise if he is left off the team. Stevenson provides speed and good defense. The Twins can run on Houston. Pinch running late and the added defense with a lead are huge in the playoffs. This addition of Ober, keeping Funderburk and Stevenson means that someone from Round One gets left off the roster. I think Chris Paddack has looked really good but the Twins need that roster spot; he is off the roster.

I have no quibble with anyone picking Max Kepler. I mentioned him by name for his strong second half. All season long, including during his dark first half, I have been in Kepler's corner. I like almost everything about the way Max plays baseball and he seems to be enjoying himself and smiling for the first time in a long while. My choice for 2023 Twins MVP is Correa though.

MVP is usually pretty divided unless one player puts up incredible numbers. Gray, Lopez, and the starting pitchers were the driving force for this Twins team. Kepler had a wonderful half season and there were noteworthy contributions from young players too: Julien, Wallner, Lewis, and Kirilloff in that order. I was never a huge fan of Correa until he became a Twin and saw his play on a daily basis. He led the team in at bats, hits, doubles, and was second in most other categories. His leadership and play at shortstop makes him the guy the Twins look to for words and action. Despite the subpar campaign this year for C4 with pedestrian numbers, I'm picking Carlos Correa as the most valuable Twin.

All teams will have shown significant change on their rosters since 2016. The front offices on every team do their best to sign and acquire whatever players they are able to gain with the resources at their disposal. Ownership changes for some teams and some owners change their practices on other teams. The Pohlads made significant financial investments since bringing on Falvey that were not a part of their plan previously. It is fine to think highly of this front office or any other one too. It is neither fair nor useful nor serves a purpose to make comparisons to past management folks. Change happens and circumstances do too. The players, ultimately, are the decisive factor in a winning year. If one knew before the 2023 season the specific numbers that Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa would finish with this year, there would not be an expectation of an AL Central crown. The Mahle trade was widely lauded across Twins fandom but took an unfortunate turn. Likewise the subtraction of Luis Arraez in a trade for Pablo Lopez was panned heavily, yet that trade helped both teams into the playoffs. Additionally, the Twins received wonderful performances from a number of players who worked hard last offseason to improve themselves. I'm happy for Falvey seeing some of his work bring positive results, but it is always the players who put their jobs on the line. MLB is really difficult. There are more billionaires than major league baseball players. Sometimes it it easy to forget the extremely long odds an athlete faces to reach the highest levels.

Walker JenkinsEmmanuel RodriguezBrooks LeeDavid FestaAustin MartinMarco RayaCharlee SotoSimeon Woods RichardsonConnor PrielippCory LewisTanner SchobelKala'i RosarioNoah MillerLuke KeaschallBrandon WinokurYasser MercedesKody FunderburkRicardo OlivarJose SalasMatt Canterino

Ober, Lopez, Gray, Ryan with Maeda ready in Game 1.

Ryan will get the start while being watched closely with Maeda ready to step in quickly. I would prefer to see Ober. He goes 5 innings every time and gives up 2 runs. The offense will have their work cut out for them with Valdez and Verlander. Eventually the offense needs to step forward and score a pile of runs. It might as well be against Framber and Justin.

Kepler, Kirilloff, and Wallner were pretty good in September. I'm thinking that the manager overreacted but didn't want to leave a dominant lefty in the bullpen while the Twins scored with that trio against Berrios. I thought Jose looked really locked in and threw pitches outside the zone on purpose because Royce took a couple of really good swings. I'm also thinking that Berrios knew that Lewis would be extremely slow running the bases and clog the bases. Managers have tough jobs. I would have left Berrios in as long as he was spotting that fastball and commanding the curve.

Toronto had one of the best pitching staffs in baseball this year. Gausman and Berrios were on their game and their bullpen was really good. The Twins need to play good fundamental baseball and keep forcing batters to earn their way on base. The bats are coming and Houston only has one left-handed pitcher. Good at bats and situational hitting is a key. One small change might be a consideration of bunting when called for. I thought Farmer might be a good candidate to bunt today. Twins have a shot because the team is very balanced.

Totally agree that Correa had a rough year for him, his expectations, and that contract. Nevertheless, Correa had the most at bats, hits, doubles, was second in runs, RBIs, walks, and was phenominal all year as a shortstop and leader for the young players. He is my choice for team MVP.

yahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

I have not seen Erod play in person, only via milb.com. Something that seems to happen with his swings relates to discipline. Emmanuel does swing at strikes but quite often takes a wild hack where it seems he is hoping for a 500 foot homer. He also still gets fooled by breaking pitches. Rodriguez plays the game with a little jazz in his movements. Perhaps he can improve the contact within the strike zone next year. However, I have had a few thoughts similar to Jeremy's concerns about the swings and misses too. Next year will be a huge barometer for Erod and we shall see how he develops with swing discipline.

Caleb has come a long way since playing for Randolph High School. He is a great story.

Ok, it is the White Sox but Varland just cruised through two innings in impressive fashion.

Is Varland the answer?

The dream .... Julien facing a lefty.

Farmer was not stealing a base. He was going on the belief that Julien would make contact on a strike or take a ball. Thus it is a run and hit. I like it when Baldelli loosens up and put players in motion but many do not. Julien freezing up makes the call to send Farmer look questionable but the fault lies with Julien here. He has to swing to protect the plodding Farmer. FWIW, I was not happy about Julien taking that pitch but even athletes at the highest level f-up. I wasn not in favor of Baldelli sending Vazquez to pinch hit either, mostly because I believed that the Ray's lefty was less effective than their righty who came in and put Christian away on three pitches. It just doesn't make any sense to spend any time second guessing. I might not like a decision at the time it was made but I move on. More than any other sport baseball is all about failure, dealing with it and adapting and having the confidence to forget misplays to an extent yet still learn and adjust.

I'm not at all sure or even really care why Baldelli pinch hit for Julien. You may have resources and knowledge that allow you to know why decisions are made in some game situations, which may explain your certainty. I was merely attempting to soften the vitriol that casts Baldelli as incompetent by suggesting there are reasons for his actions and we don't know his thoughts. Baseball is entertainment for me these days. I'm no longer active in the game (too old) and find simple joy in the pitcher-catcher-batter chess match. I don't see second guessing and anger as a healthy part of entertainment. I do understand that people question actions and get very frustrated.

It was completely understandable why so many people were upset when Luis Arraez was traded. A fan favorite and entertaining player plus the AL Batting Champion seems like a guy to keep. The Twins sorely needed pitching however, and despite the high risk inherent in all pitchers something needed to occur or the Twins were doomed to repeats of using guys like Archer and Bundy. Actually Bundy and Archer were better than one could have expected as shown by their current standing. Pitching is critical to team success and starters are the most valuable of all baseball players. I was all in with the Lopez-Arrez trade immediately. While I loved Arraez, it was obvious the Twins needed a quality starter to be a .500 team or better. It is looking like this trade was excellent for both teams which is a good thing. I'm actually hoping the Twins can pull off a similar trade during this coming offseason. Pitching is the main factor in a winning team.

Perhaps the Twins can find another trade partner who needs a position player for a starting pitcher. Can the Twins get by with Lopez, Ryan, Ober, Paddack, & Varland in 2024? David Festa and Simeon Woods Richardson may help at some point next year as well. Perhaps there is a free agent pitcher available to sign. Somehow, a trade seems like a better option. Never such a thing as too much pitching.

Says someone lost who stumbled onto to baseball blog. Life is good.