Herald Journal

Serving the communities of Howard Lake, Lester Prairie, Winsted, Watertown, Mayer, New Germany, Waverly, MN and the surrounding area

Let’s Just Enjoy the Twins Season


In 2019 it seems that everyone has something to complain about. It might just be that internet trolls seem to have the loudest voices and get noticed the most. Maybe in reality most of us are actually positive about the season but we don’t pen our thoughts on Twitter very often.

The Minnesota Twins have had a surprising, exciting and impressive first half of the season. At 56-33 coming out of the All-Star break, they are only 1.5 games back from the AL best New York Yankees. The Twins also still hold a 5.5 game division lead over the Cleveland Indians.

According to baseball-reference.com, Minnesota has a 99.1% chance of making the postseason, 96.3% chance of winning the division, and after opening the season as the 20th team for odds to win the World Series, the Twins find themselves as the 5th best favorite.

With all of this team success, there have been plenty of individuals who have made this season enjoyable to watch. All-Star Jorge Polanco led the AL in batting average for an extended period of time and currently comes in at 5th with a .312 average.

Eddie Rosario led the AL for a long stretch when it came to home runs and currently sits at 10th place with 20, while teammate Max Kepler is tied for 6th with 21. Rosario, Kepler, and CJ Cron all rank in the top 15 when it comes to RBI’s as well.

In terms of pitching, All-Star Jake Odorizzi led the AL in ERA for a large part of the season and is currently tied for 3rd with 10 wins, while still bolstering a 3.15 ERA. The Twins other All-Star pitcher Jose Berrios is currently 4th in the AL in ERA with a 3.00.

On top of all of those individual performances, the team hitting stats have been off the charts. Minnesota is on pace to set the MLB record for home runs in a season. They are currently at 166, which is 6 more than Seattle while having played 5 less games. They also are tied for first in the league in team batting average and have the fifth fewest strikeouts.

Throw in a pitching staff that is top 15 in every major statistical category and you have yourself a very talented team.

So why has there been such a bout of negativity about the Twins? The primary reason is that fans have watched a large division lead of 8-11 games dwindle down to 5.5 over the past month. Minnesota has gone 16-14 in their last 30 games while Cleveland has gone an impressive 21-9.

But in reality, what did Twins fans expect? Did they think that the Indians would give up and the Twins would win the division by 20 games? The fact remains that Minnesota is still in the driver’s seat when it comes to this division and making the playoffs.

Since the Twins moved into Target Field in 2011, they have the worst record in the league. They have only reached 80-plus wins twice and the playoffs once… but sure, let’s complain that Indians played a good stretch of baseball.

Minnesota is on pace to win 100 games, a mark that hasn’t been reached since 1965 when they lost to the Dodgers in the World series.This is one of the best teams the Twins have put together in franchise history. So please, spare me the negativity. Let’s just appreciate great baseball, something we haven’t had in Minnesota for a long time.

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