All Things 2023 Minnesota Twins In-Season Thread

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My biggest concern going into the playoffs is is...if the twins have the lead in the 9th, going to Duran is just not a great option, imo.

Why not Varland there?
 

status update:

Orioles lead Tampa Bay by 2.5 gms in AL East.

Texas leads Houston by 2.5 gms in AL West

at this moment, Tampa Bay would be WC #1, Toronto WC #2 and Houston WC #3 - but Houston has a 1/2 game lead over Seattle for the final Wild Card spot.

so things look like this:
WC round: Stros or Seattle at Twins // Toronto at Tampa Bay

ALDS: Twins/Stros or Seattle winner vs Texas
Tampa/Toronto winner vs Baltimore

in the NL, just in case anyone is interested,
Atlanta wins East, Brewers win Central, Dodgers win West

Phillies have WC#1 locked up. but Arizona, Cubs and Miami are in a battle for the next two WC spots, with Cincy still in contention.

WC round: Brewers host #6 seed/ Phillies host #5 seed.
 

Slim Tubby said:
Of the possible opponents, I'd have TB and HOU as our two (2) least favorable.

I've been critical of the team all year. Fire Falvey. Fire Rocco. Fire the hitting coach. Fire the hotdog vendors. Waive Joey. Only one (1) of those has proven to be remotely accurate.

I'm proud of these guys. My expectations for the playoffs are as low as they were in 1987 but we know crazy things can happen!
Click to expand...

I'm with you on TB, but I'm not sure why there's so much fear of the Astros other than that they're the defending champs.

The Twins are 4-2 against the Astros this season and their pitching is not what it used to be. Valdez is their best pitcher and he's been very erratic the 2nd half of this season. The rest of their rotation is average at best.

I think the Twins matchup very well with all of the teams in the west.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
status update:

Orioles lead Tampa Bay by 2.5 gms in AL East.

Texas leads Houston by 2.5 gms in AL West

at this moment, Tampa Bay would be WC #1, Toronto WC #2 and Houston WC #3 - but Houston has a 1/2 game lead over Seattle for the final Wild Card spot.

so things look like this:
WC round: Stros or Seattle at Twins // Toronto at Tampa Bay

ALDS: Twins/Stros or Seattle winner vs Texas
Tampa/Toronto winner vs Baltimore

in the NL, just in case anyone is interested,
Atlanta wins East, Brewers win Central, Dodgers win West

Phillies have WC#1 locked up. but Arizona, Cubs and Miami are in a battle for the next two WC spots, with Cincy still in contention.

WC round: Brewers host #6 seed/ Phillies host #5 seed.
Click to expand...

The Twins taking on the west while the east beats up on each other is a very good situation for the Twins.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
I'm with you on TB, but I'm not sure why there's so much fear of the Astros other than that they're the defending champs.

The Twins are 4-2 against the Astros this season and their pitching is not what it used to be. Valdez is their best pitcher and he's been very erratic the 2nd half of this season. The rest of their rotation is average at best.

I think the Twins matchup very well with all of the teams in the west.
Click to expand...
It's probably just the stigma and recent success that makes me nervous about HOU. I'd feel better knowing we would have a healthy Lewis and Correa, though.
 


Slim Tubby said:
Of the possible opponents, I'd have TB and HOU as our two (2) least favorable.

I've been critical of the team all year. Fire Falvey. Fire Rocco. Fire the hitting coach. Fire the hotdog vendors. Waive Joey. Only one (1) of those has proven to be remotely accurate.

I'm proud of these guys. My expectations for the playoffs are as low as they were in 1987 but we know crazy things can happen!
Click to expand...
Is Tampa even a first round possibility anymore?
 



if my math is correct, this is how the Twins did this season against other AL playoff teams:

Houston 4-2
Seattle 3-4
Toronto 3-3
Tampa Bay 1-5
Baltimore 2-4
Texas 5-2
 



Slim Tubby said:
Of the possible opponents, I'd have TB and HOU as our two (2) least favorable.

I've been critical of the team all year. Fire Falvey. Fire Rocco. Fire the hitting coach. Fire the hotdog vendors. Waive Joey. Only one (1) of those has proven to be remotely accurate.

I'm proud of these guys. My expectations for the playoffs are as low as they were in 1987 but we know crazy things can happen!
Click to expand...
Bring back the Hormel Dome Dog, I say.
 

Ope3 said:
Bring back the Hormel Dome Dog, I say.
Click to expand...

♫ Now that you are at the game. Are you in Hormel’s Row of Fame? If you’re in a lucky seat, you’ll win a Hormel hot dog treat. Great for lunch, great for dinner. You will be a wiener winner in the Hormel Row of Fame ♫.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
♫ Now that you are at the game. Are you in Hormel’s Row of Fame? If you’re in a lucky seat, you’ll win a Hormel hot dog treat. Great for lunch, great for dinner. You will be a wiener winner in the Hormel Row of Fame ♫.
Click to expand...
As a rough estimate I would say I attended roughly 250 Twins games at the HHH Dome. Completely heartbroken I never was in the Hormel Row of Fame. Was really bummed once when the same row 1 section over got the nod.
 

Slim Tubby said:
It's probably just the stigma and recent success that makes me nervous about HOU. I'd feel better knowing we would have a healthy Lewis and Correa, though.
Click to expand...

I have little doubt Correa will be back before the playoffs, but I think Lewis is a long shot to start. Despite how good Lewis has been when he plays, they have still played 65% of the season without him.
 



Should the Twins handle the bullpen as it is in the exhibition season?

What I mean, have the bullpen usage predetermined so you have players fresh but not cold.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
I have little doubt Correa will be back before the playoffs, but I think Lewis is a long shot to start. Despite how good Lewis has been when he plays, they have still played 65% of the season without him.
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I tried unsuccessfully to find the Twins winning percentage with Lewis in the lineup. My guess is the winning percentage with him available exceeds the winning percentage when he's not available.
 

jamiche said:
I tried unsuccessfully to find the Twins winning percentage with Lewis in the lineup. My guess is the winning percentage with him available exceeds the winning percentage when he's not available.
Click to expand...

I was actually thinking about posting this in my last post but here you go:

Twins record with Lewis: 31-27 .535
Twins record without Lewis; 52 - 46 .531

Overall a very similar record with, or without him.

www.baseball-reference.com

Royce Lewis 2023 Batting Game Logs | Baseball-Reference.com

Royce Lewis Every game played with complete stats, links to box scores and automated row summing for 2023
www.baseball-reference.com www.baseball-reference.com
 

jamiche said:
I tried unsuccessfully to find the Twins winning percentage with Lewis in the lineup. My guess is the winning percentage with him available exceeds the winning percentage when he's not available.
Click to expand...
31-27 (.534) when Lewis appears, 30-26 (.536) when he starts.

That would make the Twins who are 83-73 (.532) Overall, 52-46 (.531) when he does not play at all, 53-47 (.530) when he does not start.

www.baseball-reference.com

Royce Lewis 2023 Batting Game Logs | Baseball-Reference.com

Royce Lewis Every game played with complete stats, links to box scores and automated row summing for 2023
www.baseball-reference.com www.baseball-reference.com

EDIT - Duplicate on GopherWeatherGuy, beat me to it.
 

Ski U Mah Gopher said:
Should the Twins handle the bullpen as it is in the exhibition season?

What I mean, have the bullpen usage predetermined so you have players fresh but not cold.
Click to expand...
Yes. The chances of catching Texas are now basically zero. Everything should be set on keeping guys healthy/fresh for next Tuesday.
 

Stros now with a 1.5 game lead over the Mariners for the final WC spot. Seattle pretty much has to win the next two games to get back in the race.

Seattle closes with a series against Texas, while Houston has the Diamondbacks.
 






GophersInIowa said:
Mercy Matt Wallner
Click to expand...

I've watched almost zero Twins games this year, for whatever reason. But I was cruising around and saw the game was available (Oakland is for some reason considered a "local" market to LV), and just happened to tune in about 3 pitches before Wallner's GS.

Holy shit. It's not often you see the outfielders essentially never take a step.
 

Interesting:
Spencer Steer ops is 0.813
Christian Encarnacion Strand ops is 0.813

Steer is 25 yrs old and CES is 23. Both right handed bats. Imagine if we could've thrown them into the soup along with our other young talent. Hurts.
 

My biggest point of interest tonight was the return of the pitchers. Ober looked very sharp. Paddack's 1st inning was sharp and then he had some issues, but showed good velocity. And Stewart was solid. Knock on wood, but the bullpen has the potential to be very good for the playoffs.
 


GopherWeatherGuy said:
I'm with you on TB, but I'm not sure why there's so much fear of the Astros other than that they're the defending champs.

The Twins are 4-2 against the Astros this season and their pitching is not what it used to be. Valdez is their best pitcher and he's been very erratic the 2nd half of this season. The rest of their rotation is average at best.

I think the Twins matchup very well with all of the teams in the west.
Click to expand...
While the Twins had a winning record against the Astros, I certainly would prefer to avoid them. Those 4 wins happened while Verlander was pitching for the Mets.

He was dealing last night. I guess it's possible they may have to use him in one of the last 2 regular season games, making him unavailable until G3 of the WC round.
 

Ope3 said:
While the Twins had a winning record against the Astros, I certainly would prefer to avoid them. Those 4 wins happened while Verlander was pitching for the Mets.

He was dealing last night. I guess it's possible they may have to use him in one of the last 2 regular season games, making him unavailable until G3 of the WC round.
Click to expand...

Verlander is Verlander so I get it with him. But he is getting old. Who else in that rotation scares you? Valdez has not been very good the 2nd half of the season and he just gave up 6 ER against the Royals his last start.
 

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