The Minnesota Twins have now lost 12 of 14 games, following tonight’s latest failure in Cleveland. Once again, they got ahead early and led most of the game but, once again, they lost control somewhere between a tiring Jose Berrios and a bullpen that loves to give up runs in-between outs.

Hammy?#OurCLE | #WWindians pic.twitter.com/5VrEYfi0MS

— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) April 27, 2021

Rocco Riding the Struggle Bus

Obviously, the Twins “A” topic is losing games. These losses aren’t on the head coach, Rocco Baldelli. Managers don’t mean that much over the course of a baseball game. But, when the Minnesota Twins skipper has thrust himself into the spotlight, the results have been unflattering to say the least.

That continued today, after Jose Berrios let the game go from 2-0 to 2-2 in the 6th inning. Rocco made a mound visit but his purpose was only to check on his starting pitcher, before letting him continue. The problem, however, was that Wes Johnson had already made a mound visit earlier in the inning. That meant Baldelli didn’t have a choice, Berrios had to come out. He had thrown 83 pitches.

Here it is. Rocco Baldelli is forced to pull Jose Berrios in the 6th because he forgot that Wes Johnson had already made a mound visit earlier that inning. Yikes. #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/RYOe9A7Eym

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) April 27, 2021

Rocco Baldelli intended to leave José Berríos in, walked off the mound. But because Wes Johnson had already visit earlier in the inning, #MNTwins have to make the change. Hansel Robles takes over, 2 out, man on 2nd, tied at 2, B6.

— danhayesmlb (@DanHayesMLB) April 26, 2021

For all of the things Rocco has taken heat for recently, this one has to be the worst. You can’t make mistakes like this, especially when your team is in the middle of a cliff fall that they need to hit the bottom of. Baldelli admitted his mistake after the game, when talking with media.

The Minnesota Twins are now 7-14. They’ll try again tomorrow for game 2/3 in Cleveland. Kenta Maeda will take the hill.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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.

The @Twins have their sights on the division crown. pic.twitter.com/e0xbCJVUBw

— MLB (@MLB) September 24, 2020

It’s about damn time pic.twitter.com/i3AQxusuid

— Cooper (@CoopCarlson) September 24, 2020

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. 20 — Oct. 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

Whoa! We got a little more than we bargained for during the Minnesota Twins vs Cleveland Indians game tonight… The Twins were cruising along to a 3-0 victory in the 8th inning, when Francisco Lindor stepped to the plate against Sergio Romo.

Lindor just missed his pitch from Romo and he knew it. He even flashed a smile as he watched the ball helplessly lose momentum before falling into Eddie Rosario’s glove in left field. Sergio didn’t like how Francisco Lindor looked at his baseball. Thus, he decided to stare at Francisco (classic move) until it pissed him off. It worked.

Lindor and Romo had words after a Lindor flyout and the benches cleared but no incidents at all pic.twitter.com/rUSS9vEt5j

— CJ Fogler (@cjzer0) September 12, 2020

Sergio Romo won't stand for anyone … smiling at him(?) Will be interested to hear more about what this was all about.#MNTwins pic.twitter.com/HFvQLfApMC

— Tom Froemming (@TFTwins) September 12, 2020

Nothing really crazy happened, beyond Miguel Sano grabbing Sergio Romo and walking him out of the confrontation like a dad, who just caught his son about to get his ass kicked outside of his middle school classroom.

Sergio Romo was really pissed off though, needing to be escorted all the way to the locker room. This is what a big time series looks like and what a bench clearing brawl ALMOST looks like. Clearly, these games are getting intense, especially without a crowd to mute on-field chatter.

Also, the game ended in a Minnesota Twins victory, after Taylor Rogers got back on the horse in the 9th and earned a save. It wasn’t easy, though. He did give up a solo HR and let the tying run come to the plate, before eventually ending the game.

We beat Bieber. #TwinsWin 3-1! pic.twitter.com/xpokQogUd9

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) September 12, 2020

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

The Minnesota Twins entered the day with a magic number of 2, meaning a win in Detroit + a Cleveland loss vs the White Sox, would equal our first American League Central Division Title since 2010…. nearly a decade.

It took awhile but the Twins ended up easily disposing of the Tigers, 5-1. Randy Dobnak was dominant again and might just find himself with a prominant role on an MLB playoff team in a matter of weeks. Luis Arraez went deep in the 7th inning to take the lead and then Eddie Rosario put one over the fence in the 8th, to seal the deal.

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? To: @Dobnak_
? From: @Arraez_21 pic.twitter.com/zCaulUrGWX

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) September 26, 2019

“That’s one of my favorite Eddie Rosario home runs right there.”

We agree, @roysmalley5! ??#BombaSquad | #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/G8F2GlBETl

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) September 26, 2019

Wedding weekend begins with a win for @Twins pitcher @Dobnak_ ? pic.twitter.com/w0Q4er4pxq

— FOX Sports North (@fsnorth) September 26, 2019

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And just like that, the magic number was down to 1.

Then, we waited for Cleveland, who didn’t start their game vs the White Sox until 7:10 PM. The White Sox went up early and never looked back. It wasn’t even nerve-wracking. 

When the final out happened in Chicago, officially dubbing the Minnesota Twins as the 2019 AL Central Champs, the celebration began! (I’ll embed the  celebration videos below, as the come in.)

I picked the Twins to win the division before the season started but I never expected it to be like this. What a season… what a team! I CAN’T FUCKING BELIEVE WE GET TO LOSE YEARS OF OUR LIFE WATCHING PLAYOFF BASEBALL AGAIN THANK GOD/ALIENS!!! BRING ON THE YANKEES (HOPEFULLY) BECAUSE THAT PRESCHOOL BALLPARK HAS NO CHANCE VS THIS TEAM AND IF YOU THINK I’M AFRAID OF THOSE DISGUSTING PIN STRIPES THEN YOU AREN’T FOLLOWING THIS SITE CLOSE ENOUGH LET’S FUCKING GOOOOOOOO!

And now, Cleveland might not even make the Wild Card Game…. hahahahahhahaha

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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The moment. #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/5aT2aoVyaF

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) September 26, 2019

“Hopefully this is just the start of something.”

Hear from @Twins bench coach Derek Shelton. #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/O3nb9pw1AJ

— FOX Sports North (@fsnorth) September 26, 2019

.@Twins pitcher Kyle Gibson says this title has been a long time coming. pic.twitter.com/AusDs53YZF

— FOX Sports North (@fsnorth) September 26, 2019

GIBBY IS ALL OF US RIGHT NOW!@Twins | #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/IKl9rcaxkN

— FOX Sports North (@fsnorth) September 26, 2019

.@ncboomstick23 says this division title isn’t just a win for the guys in the clubhouse, it’s a win for the whole @Twins organization. pic.twitter.com/ljF1qN5W3Q

— FOX Sports North (@fsnorth) September 26, 2019

When did @IamTrevorMay know these @Twins were special?

April. pic.twitter.com/7XMCMeV8Ua

— FOX Sports North (@fsnorth) September 26, 2019

This is definitely the best birthday @Twins manager Rocco Baldelli has ever had! pic.twitter.com/3amsfUyOwy

— FOX Sports North (@fsnorth) September 26, 2019

YOUR 2019 AMERICAN LEAGUE CENTRAL DIVISION CHAMPION MINNESOTA TWINS pic.twitter.com/zQyFRmescd

— Parker Hageman (@ParkerHageman) September 26, 2019

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Yesterday was quite the letdown. The Twins played on YouTube for the entire internet world to see and things were going REALLY well… until the 8th inning when Sergio Romo entered the game. A Polanco error and a dribbler-hit later led to this… and the end of my optimism for the night.

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Trent GrisHAMMERED. #ThisIsMyCrew pic.twitter.com/pLRhnabdCZ

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) August 15, 2019

Another #MNTwins game, another blown lead by the bullpen. ?

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) August 14, 2019

*bullpen gives up 3 run HR and the lead in the 8th inning

Absolutely nobody:#MNTwins fans: “it’s not the bullpen’s fault this time” https://t.co/Kl1YrYhzdX

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) August 14, 2019

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But I awoke this morning in a better mood, especially when I peeped the Twins’ schedule through the rest of August… because the Twins are nearing 13 straight games vs the Tigers and the White Sox, starting Monday. News Alert: Those two teams are bad.

But first, we are on our way to Arlington, Texas to play the baseball team version of the Texas Rangers (luckily… playing the real version would have been dangerous). The baseball team has lost 6 of their last 8, including losing 2 out of 3 to the terrible Blue Jays this week. They did win the getaway game yesterday afternoon, though.

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Mashara. pic.twitter.com/0MYGkNKYNz

— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) August 14, 2019

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If the Rangers would have lost yesterday, they’d be under .500 and the Twins would be preparing for 17 straight games vs. sub-.500 teams. That’s just for novelty though because the Rangers have been playing like a bad team for over a week now and the Twins should be able to take advantage.

We need to dominate the next 3 weeks and these 3 shitty opponents. The White Sox and Tigers combined for a 90-146 record this season and the Rangers might be playing even worse than those two. We’ve been talking about the Twins schedule turning to crap for a long time now, as Cleveland’s been coming up on our ass faster than Vin Diesel in a Fast and Furious movie, and that part of the schedule is finally here.

We need to do as my dad said back in the day and “make hay while the sun is shining”. While we play the Rangers and White Sox for the next week, Cleveland will play both New York teams, who happen to be two of the hottest teams in baseball. This is an opportunity to gain 3-6 games in one week’s time, before the teams on the Indians’ schedule start to look shittier than ours (Detroit/KC).

The Twins will also get Nelson Cruz back early next week.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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The Twins again waited until the last possible moment, before figuring out their bats against the Indians on Sunday afternoon. A Rosario double scored the only run on the board for the home team when the offense took the field in the bottom of the 9th. But they found their offense JUST in time…

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THE ROOKIE DELIVERS AGAIN#MNTwins pic.twitter.com/wOLiSvMNBB

— FOX Sports North (@fsnorth) August 11, 2019

MARWIN GONZALEZ TIES THE GAME!!! pic.twitter.com/ciDBjmbzbL

— FOX Sports North (@fsnorth) August 11, 2019

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Ehire Adrianza getting thrown out with just one out on the board was absolutely unacceptable. It really wasn’t even close either. I’ve been questioning sends around 3rd base all season. There have been a lot of questionable ones by Tony Diaz. It needs to stop before it costs us more games like it did today.

Right after that inning, the Indians turned around and hit a grand slam to go up 4 in the top of the 10th before the Twins failed to mount another rally to match them. Anytime our bats can’t carry us to victory with 7+ runs, you need to be afraid with this team. That should make us feel really good about the playoffs. Here is the grand slam to make your sunday blues a bit worse.

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'Los doing the most.#RallyTogether pic.twitter.com/HdCmn9kA6T

— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) August 11, 2019

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Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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So now that the Cleveland Indians have come back from their once 11.5-game deficit in the AL Central, to tie the Twins at 70-46, with nearly two full months of baseball left to play……. is it now ok if I complain about trade deadline moves that never happened? When can I take a step back from “enjoying the season” to look objectively at my favorite baseball team and still be considered a fan?

I need to know because the Twins pitching staff is fucking terrible and I need to talk to someone about it. Not just the bullpen… but the whole fucking staff. At least, they have been lately. And now Cleveland’s pitching and mediocre hitting is exposing us. It’s hard to watch. Smeltzer and Gibson are more afraid to throw strikes than they are to throw from flat ground.

Meanwhile, Cleveland’s aces — Clevinger and Bieber, are slicing through our record-setting batting lineup like the butter that’s been sitting on their counter for 3 days. This isn’t about our offense though, so I don’t want to dwell on them.

But hey, I don’t want to be the guy who offends people with funny little terms like “Pohlad Pocket Protector”. All I know is that the Twins failed to add pitching that they desperately needed and no matter what mistakes teams like Toronto made at the deadline or how much the Mets and Reds screwed up the market… it doesn’t change the result and how we now need to live with that result.

Not getting Stroman is the one that bugs me the most. Can we talk about that for a paragraph? Am I still a fan if I talk about this? Whatever the Twins offered the Jays was too shitty for them to even call back for a second conversation. For a team that needed pitching help as much as we did, that’s a bad mistake. A terrible mistake.

I still think the Twins win this division but why are we even in this position? Falvine told us they would make investments when investments made sense. They’ve never made more sense. We aren’t just talking about money either. You have the prospects. You don’t even have space to put some of them at the MLB level.

You need top-end piching in the bullpen and in the rotation. But, you did nothing. Sam Dyson and Sergio Romo weren’t the somethings we were waiting for either. No Stroman. No MadBum. No Giles. No Syndergaard. No splash.

Same bullshit.

And now we are paying for it. Even earlier than I thought.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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6.3333333333333333333 runs per game will win you a lot contests… unless you give up double-digit runs yourself.. BUT luckily for us, Cleveland is coming to town for a 4-game set that starts today and their lineup isn’t Atlanta’s.

This sereies (and the 10 remaining games with Cleveland) should prove interesting because we are exact opposites of each other. The Indians have a stacked pitching staff and the Twins hit bombs.

Look, the Atlanta series was frustrating but the bats were there. The pitching won’t be that bad (nor will the Indians be that good offensively). And the Twins have been RAKING. You saw the runs we put up vs the Braves but if you go back 17 games, you’ll only find 3 of them where the Twins scored less than 4 runs.

The Indians just did the same thing to the Rangers, that the Braves did to us. They lost on Monday in the series opener, before Tuesday’s game was rained out, which made Wednesday a double-header… that they swept. Cleveland has been the hottest team in baseball for two months but they’ve played shit teams and taken advantage (especially Detroit)… and have struggled all season vs the good ones. Seriously… look at this (via Baseball-Reference):

After 4 games with us, Cleveland will go on to play the Red Sox, the Yankees, and the Mets. We all know about the Yankees but both Boston and the other team in New York are over .500 currently too. Meanwhile, the Twins will go to Milwaukee and Texas before GET THIS… 13 STRAIGHT GAMES VS THE TIGERS AND WHITE SOX, who have a combined record of: 83-139.

What’s really exciting about this series is that it will showcase the first 4 of 10 games that these two teams will play against each other, through the rest of this season. If one team runs away with those games, that could be your next division winner. If those ten games are played close, it’ll come down to who can beat up on the many bad teams remaining on both schedules, while winning more than they lose vs the good ones.

Baseball that matters in August and September… Let’s fucking go.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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#msfdaily : we need pitching help. #mntwins #twins #gotwins #minnesotatwins #bombas #bombasquad #twinsbaseball #mntwinsfan #minnesotatwinsbaseball #mlb #mlbplayoffs #alcentral #targetfield #majorleaguebaseball #newyork #yankees #newyorkyankees #minnesotasports #minnesotasportsfan

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Jake Odorizzi pitched like trash last night, giving up 9 earned runs in just 4 innings and even a great appearance by Devin Smeltzer, that stopped the bleeding, wasn’t enough for the Twins’ offensive firepower to climb back into it vs the Yankees. Yeah, Cleveland won again too.

So, the division lead is down to just 2 games (from 11.5 at one point) and Twins fans are trying not to panic but it isn’t easy…. you know… since this is Minnesota. I can’t blame anyone. I’ve been trying to keep my own Minnesota mind from going to that place…

?? #MNTwins https://t.co/CxfCxE5FZK

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) July 25, 2019

But I’m sure you’ve heard the good news. The Twins’ schedule is about to ease up and it starts tonight when we travel to the south side of Chicago to face the shitty Chicago White Sox who just got done losing a series to the shittier Miami Marlins, who I didn’t know could actually win a series… Yeah, the Marlins are 38-62 on the season.

But Aaron Gleeman of Baseball Prospectus and the amazing “Gleeman and the Geek” Podcast dug deep into the numbers like he is so good at and he came out with some tangible numbers that made me feel better and hopefull does the same for you:

Comparing remaining schedules for the Twins and Indians.

Above-.500 teams:
Twins — 21
Indians — 35

Below-.500 teams:
Twins — 40
Indians — 26

Below-.400 teams:
Twins — 23
Indians — 13

Royals/Tigers/WSox:
Twins — 33
Indians — 20

Opponents' winning%:
Twins — #30
Indians — #15

— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) July 25, 2019

Here’s what it comes down to, because I’m not here for moral victories. The Twins are better than the Indians. Now, they have a remaining schedule that is MUCH easier than that of the Indians… So, as long as the Twins can avoid a meltdown, they will win the Central Division and they will be playing a full series in the 2019 MLB Playoffs.

That’s without making any trades that improve the obviously terrible bullpen and the tiring starting staff. Everyone knows how I feel about the Twins and trades that they will/need to make. On Darren Wolfson’s podcast from Monday, he says that he would be “shocked” if the Twins don’t make at least one big move for a bullpen pitcher, by the deadline, but that we could see as many as two new relievers and one new starter (exactly what I’ve been asking for since the beginning).

Right now, the problem is the high price being asked for guys who are available. Darren says the prices on these players is expected to drop significantly, as we enter Monday of next week. Remember, the trade deadline is at 3 PM CT on Wednesday, 6 days from now.

So Twins fans looking for optimism: study up the schedule and then take a weekend vacation away from your phone. You could miss the big deal you’ve been waiting for, but it’s unlikely and the stress you will save yourself (and weeks/months of your life), is worth taking that chance.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

Max Kepler is a big fan of Trevor Bauer. #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/7lW5ZjthC6

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) June 7, 2019

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It didn’t take long for Max Kepler to start his massive night on Thursday in Cleveland. In fact, it took only 2 pitches. He would finish the night with four hits, three of them being homeruns. It was a big night for Max too, because he was just 1 for his last 25 since May 28th. He’s probably feeling a bit better tonight, than when his head hit the pillow on Wednesday.

Trevor Bauer, on the other hand, may not sleep for awhile and the nightmares that are keeping him up will definitely feature Kepler.

But, Max wasn’t the only one that led the Twins to victory.

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20 Seconds of José Berríos Changeups from tonight. pic.twitter.com/EsjIefDBe2

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 7, 2019

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Jose Berrios’ changeup was fucking disgusting tonight. He had Cleveland hitters looking like Helen Keller with a 10-inch stick. If Berrios can continue to master that changeup, turning it into a lights-out strikeout pitch for lefties, to go along with his slurve….. the rest of the MLB would be fucked.

…unless the bullpen screws it up like they almost did again tonight.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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