Twins Win, Take Central Lead and Climb Up Playoff Bracket… For Now

Photo: @Twins - Twitter

They said the 2020 Major League Baseball season would be a sprint. They were wrong. It was a mad-fucking-dash. Hopefully you didn’t blink because the Minnesota Twins have just one three-game regular season series remaining on their schedule and it starts Thursday. The tightened agenda, expanded playoff bracket and all-home or away first round, has made for one of the more exciting American League playoff races in recent memory. Every single game changes the bracket entirely.

It’s been a good week for Minnesota baseball fans and that continued tonight. The White Sox and Yankees lost while the Twins were beating the Tigers, 6-0. When the dust settled at Target Field, the Twins walked away 7-6 winners, after Miguel Cabrera made everyone nervous with a 3-run HR in the 9th.




All of those ingredients lead to one hell of a shakeup in the American League playoff race. At the moment (another shakeup will take place tonight, depending on the outcome of Oakland vs LAD), the White Sox and Twins have swapped spots. Minnesota is now the 2-seed and the Sox sit at the 4-seed, ready for the Yankees, who stood-pat in the 5-seed.

Just a couple of nights ago, Twins fans were worried about traveling to the bronx for all three first-round games. If the season ended at this moment, however, the Cleveland Indians would head northwest to Target Field for three games.

Staying Up Late?

Across the country, the Oakland Athletics are playing at Dodger Stadium and currently lead 3-2 (4th inning). If the A’s win, they’d jump back over the Minnesota Twins. That would mean dropping to the AL 3-seed, heading into Thursday. That would pit the Twins against the cheating Astros for a Wildcard matchup at Target Field.

But hey, no matter where things finish tonight, there are still 4 days (3 Twins games) left, before the playoffs start. That means this rollercoaster ride will continue. If the Twins can stay hot through the end, win the AL Central and secure a top-3 seed, they can avoid both a road game and the Yankees (probably).

Twins players and coaches have been sleeping in their own beds since Sunday night, when they returned from their final road trip of the season, in Chicago. If the Minnesota Twins can secure a first-round home series, it’d mean two whole weeks (Sept. 20Oct. 4) in their own houses and their own beds, leading up to a possible playoff bubble departure.

The Wild Card rounds ends on October 3 and Divisional round bubble play in California starts on October 5. With all of the travel restrictions and rules players have to deal with while on the road this season, I’m not sure you can quantify how big that is. But if you tried, you’d definitely mention the Twins 23-5 record at Target Field in 2020.

Just keep winning baby.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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