The Twins are in the playoffs, and I got to see the clinching game!

 

This past Friday I had the opportunity to watch with my wife, Amy, the Twins clinch the Division Championship. I’ve never had the opportunity to see the Twins win a clinching game. Since I moved to Blaine in 2009, the Twins have won four Division titles, but I’ve never been present to see it happen. 

I’ve probably gone to almost a hundred games since they started playing at Target Field in 2009. Target Field is a place where Amy and I decompress from life and enjoy the beauty of that space. 

I’m a long-time Twins fan—just as I root for the other professional teams from Minnesota. The Twins haven’t caused me the pain that the Vikings have. (read past blogs about the Vikings) The Twins' two World Championships in 1987 and 1991 have helped with that. I can still remember where I was for the seventh game of each of those series.   

Before the start of this season my personal goal for the Twins was to win one playoff game. Enough of this eighteen-game playoff streak of losses.   

The last few years of watching the Twins have been frustrating. Last year’s September collapse didn’t sit well and their mediocre play during the first part of this season didn’t help either. The over-reliance on analytics, the early hook given to their starting pitchers, and the strange starting line-ups have made me question Rocco Baldelli. I can’t say I was really an over-the-top fan for the first part of the season.  I’ve gone to less than five games this year at Target Field. 

But something changed in my attitude. I’m not sure what it was. Maybe it was being awed by Royce Lewis, or impressed with Alex Kirillof, Edouard Julien, Matt Wallner and Jhoan Duran. The Twins seemed younger and more interesting than in the past. They developed a mojo after the All-Star break.

Being used to collapses by Minnesota sports teams, I’ve been waiting for the Twins' collapse. But they haven’t. The Guardians got within five games on September 3 and seemed ready to pounce when the Twins went to Cleveland for a three-game series. But Minnesota won the first game 20-6 and won the second game too. The Twins won my respect. 

And I get it, the Twins play in the worst Division in baseball and would not be assured of a playoff berth if they were in the other two American League divisions. But this isn’t the fault of the Twins. 

This week I was hoping the Guardians would win enough games, so the game on Friday would be the clincher. And when I opened the newspaper on Friday morning, to learn this had happened, I told Amy we had to go to Target Field. 

So there we were buying tickets from the box office at 6:45pm on Friday night. And the cost of the two tickets wasn't that bad--$25 a ticket. 

The atmosphere of the game on Friday was much different than other games I’ve attended. This crowd was much more into the game. This wasn’t a game to walk around Target Field and enjoy the atmosphere. This was a game to sit in our seats and focus on each pitch. 

The Angels didn’t provide too much resistance as without Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani they have a team with no names that I recognize. When the Twins took an early lead, it seemed like the game might be a laugher. But the Angels tied up the game in the fifth. For one inning I was nervous. Could this be the first loss of a ten-game losing streak and one of the greatest collapses in baseball history? Alex Kirillof made me feel better with a homerun and more insurance runs made the score 8-3 after seven innings. Even after the Angels scored two in the eighth a win seemed a certainty. With Jhoan Duran pitching the ninth, we had no reason to be worried. Right? 

Well … Duran was wild and all of a sudden, the tying run was on second. With two outs I started taking a video of each pitch hoping that I would capture the final out on my phone. But Zach Neto walked on seven pitches and Brandon Drury worked the count to two and two. That’s eleven pitches and eleven videos. Finally, Drury hit a ground ball to Edouard Julien who threw him out, and the fireworks started. The twelfth video was the magic one. 

Check out the video on my Facebook page. 

Most importantly the Twins are Division champions!

 Amy and I stayed for about a half hour to watch the celebration on the field. We listened to the on-field interviews. We made it back to our car and waited for about a half hour to leave the parking ramp. But we had the radio on and listened to many more interviews. 

Despite my criticism of Baldelli, I think it’s very cool that he and his wife became parents of twins earlier this month.   

It’s hard not to think ahead and wonder if Pablo Lopez and Sonny Gray can carry us to the promise land like Bert Blyleven and Frank Viola did in 1987. Joe Ryan or Kenta Maeda could start too. It’s possible the Twins could capture the imagination of the Twin Cities and go on a playoff run. You’re telling me there are more chances! 

I’m trying to figure out how to get to the first home playoff game. I do believe in miracles. It might not be a miracle that the Twins won the Division, but it’s worth taking a breath and singing their “We’re going to win Twins” song. Who knows what could happen in the next five weeks?