All Things 2023 Minnesota Twins In-Season Thread

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So is ober the game 5 starter if it goes 5?
Ope3 said:
Now we can speculate who will get left off the 26 Man Roster, at least 1 who was on the WC Round will not make it.

I think Paddack.
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Yup! I didnt line the days up. That's great theres a break between game 4 and 5
 

Ope3 said:
I think you were looking at Eastern Time.

Actually G4 on Wednesday would be at 1:07 PM locally Central Daylight Time. G5 on Friday would be at 3:07 PM.

https://www.mlb.com/postseason

As someone with tix to G3 & G4, I am very enthusiastic about the daytime starts though I empathize with you. Friday (if necessary) would actually work out to still see HS football, so also gets my approval.
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Yep, even worse
 



GophersInIowa said:
Yep, even worse
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Again I empathize with your situation, but daytime MLB Playoff Games are not a newly created event. Just like March Madness, this is known well in advance as a possibility, especially if the Twins are not playing the Yankees. Fortunately, I was able to plan for these ahead of time.

Going back as far as I can remember which was the 70s, before cable and only ALCS & NLCS, there were day games. 1987 Game 5 against Detroit was an afternoon game and there was not even an NL game that night. I suspect they did not want to go head-to-head with MNF back then.

Expanded field, expanded rounds creates the need for more day games. The networks (& their advertising partners) are calling the shots, for whatever reason see value in exclusive window. In game betting? Maybe value in that. During the regular season, often there are days games during the week as well.

No schedule will work for everyone. Like I said, those that have kids playing HS football or a strong rooting interest, probably welcome a Friday afternoon game.

Not to mention the weather for the Target Field games, much better chance of tolerable climates the earlier in the day.
 


Ope3 said:
Again I empathize with your situation, but daytime MLB Playoff Games are not a newly created event. Just like March Madness, this is known well in advance as a possibility, especially if the Twins are not playing the Yankees. Fortunately, I was able to plan for these ahead of time.

Going back as far as I can remember which was the 70s, before cable and only ALCS & NLCS, there were day games. 1987 Game 5 against Detroit was an afternoon game and there was not even an NL game that night. I suspect they did not want to go head-to-head with MNF back then.

Expanded field, expanded rounds creates the need for more day games. The networks (& their advertising partners) are calling the shots, for whatever reason see value in exclusive window. In game betting? Maybe value in that. During the regular season, often there are days games during the week as well.

No schedule will work for everyone. Like I said, those that have kids playing HS football or a strong rooting interest, probably welcome a Friday afternoon game.

Not to mention the weather for the Target Field games, much better chance of tolerable climates the earlier in the day.
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Yeah I get it. I'm just whining for the sake of whining at this point.
 





On this date 14 years ago I attended my 200-something and what would be my final Major League Baseball game at the HHH Dome.

Oct 6, 2009


It was a pretty epic way to go out for me personally, though the Twins would have 1 more against the Yankees.
 

Ope3 said:
On this date 14 years ago I attended my 200-something and what would be my final Major League Baseball game at the HHH Dome.

Oct 6, 2009


It was a pretty epic way to go out for me personally, though the Twins would have 1 more against the Yankees.
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I didn't go to game 3 because I wanted this game to be my final metrodome experience
 
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Awesome article in The Athletic by Mr. Dan Hays, about the last time we won a series in 2002, the recollections from three key members Hawk, Cuddy and AJ, whose in the booth for our series.
In the article, it notes that this staff, recorded the 15th most Ks in MLB HISTORY.

Your chili better be nuclear ☢️

—————————————

HOUSTON — For the briefest instant Wednesday evening, LaTroy Hawkins felt conflicted.The only person at Target Field on Wednesday who played for the Twins the last time they won a postseason series in 2002, Hawkins reveled in the moment after the team clinched a playoff series at home for the first time since the 1991 World Series.

Now a special assistant to baseball operations, the former reliever wisely celebrated off to the side of the clubhouse, hugging, high-fiving or yelling with every passerby while avoiding the atmospheric river of beer and Champagne several feet away.Similar to most Twins fans, Hawkins changed his plans for the upcoming weekend to accommodate the new schedule for a team he and several of his former 2002 teammates think possesses the necessary elements to go far this October. It’s just that his plans were probably a lot cooler than yours.Hawkins had tickets for Sunday’s Vikings game against the Kansas City Chiefs at U.S. Bank Stadium.

He and his best friend, Pat Mahomes Sr., planned to watch Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs. Instead, Hawkins boarded the Twins’ team charter as they flew to Houston on Thursday to play in Games 1 and 2 of the American League Division Series, which begins on Saturday afternoon.“It’s been brought to my attention I’m the only player in here that was on the last team that won a series,” Hawkins said. “I’m just happy for these guys, man. Look at them. … Happy to be in, happy to share it with them. Now, I have to change my plans. (Twins president Dave St. Peter) wants me in Houston. I can’t go to the (Chiefs) game.”Given he’s attended both of his godson’s Super Bowl victories, there are bigger tragedies than Hawkins attending the Twins’ first second-round playoff series since they played the then-Anaheim Angels in the AL Championship Series back in 2002.

When the Twins hold a late afternoon workout Friday at Minute Maid Field, it will be exactly 21 years since they previously won a postseason series.Hawkins, fellow Twins special assistant to baseball ops Michael Cuddyer and A.J. Pierzynski, FOX Sports’ color analyst for the upcoming Twins-Astros series, were all on the roster of a 2002 Twins squad that knocked off the Moneyball Oakland A’s, a team that won 103 games and set the AL record for consecutive victories with 20.

“It’s absolutely insane that it took 21 years in order to win another series,” Pierzynski said Thursday morning. “They’ve had good teams. Don’t forget in ’06 they had the MVP, Cy Young and batting champion and got swept. They’ve had MVPs, guys that are really good players and good teams. Obviously, I played against a bunch of those teams. That they never won a game, forget a series, they never won a game. And now, 21 years later, they did it and I’m happy for the Twins organization. I like a lot of people in that organization. I’m happy it’s finally off their backs.”

Before he answered any questions, Cuddyer wanted to share a similar thought to Pierzynski’s about the 2023 Twins. Cuddyer not only played for the 2002 club; he endured much of the organization’s heartbreak that followed. Cuddyer appeared in 22 playoff games for the Twins, including the first dozen of the team’s record 18-game losing streak, one the current group snapped with a 3-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday.

“I’m happy that the team now is able to kind of ‘get the monkey off their back’ because it wasn’t their monkey to wear,” Cuddyer said. “It was the fans’. They are the ones that had to endure all those losses, not the current team. I even felt like this the last few times that they were in the playoffs. I was like, it’s not fair that these players and these coaches have to continue to answer these questions when it wasn’t them that lost these games, so to speak. It almost was like an unwarranted burden that they had to carry. So I’m really, really happy that everybody is able to move on from that now.”

All three believe the 2023 Twins possess the necessary ingredients to advance further than the ALDS. Nobody assumes it will be easy given the Astros are the reigning World Series champions. But each could see reasons why the current club may make a run longer than any Twins team since the 1991 World Series.

The primary reason is, of course, a pitching staff that registered the 15th-most strikeouts by a team in major league history.

The primary reason is, of course, a pitching staff that registered the 15th-most strikeouts by a team in major league history.

“I like the makeup of all their pitchers,” Pierzynski said. “Any time you start with Pablo López, Joe Ryan, Sonny Gray, that’s a pretty good three to start with, right? And the difference for me is the philosophy. Last year, they wouldn’t let their starters go deep at all. This year, they’re letting them go a little bit deeper, which has saved the bullpen. … (The bullpen is) just a ton of dudes and a ton of weapons Rocco has at his disposal.”

Cuddyer likes how the current cache of arms is far more powerful than any Twins team to come before them. Unlike the bygone era of pitching to contact, the 2023 Twins feature a half-dozen power arms in the bullpen.

“This particular group is different,” Cuddyer said. “Outside of Johan Santana, the Twins never really had a pitching staff that could strike somebody out when they needed to strike somebody out. Power pitching. That’s what wins in the postseason. When you need a strikeout, you got guys on the mound that can go get that strikeout. That’s what really, really excites me about this group.”

Watching from home in Orlando this week, Pierzynski said he was excited to hear a rocking atmosphere at Target Field. Though the series won’t shift back to Minneapolis until Game 3 on Tuesday, Pierzynski was impressed by what he heard on his television.

“I was so happy when you turn on the game and you have 40,000 people going crazy from the first pitch,” Pierzynski said. “That’s what the playoffs are supposed to be about. Minnesota has always shown up and represented at these playoff games. I’m glad they’re back in it.”

Despite it being 21 years earlier, all three players recalled the wild ending to their series with Oakland.

First came the 11-2 blowout victory in a win-or-go-home Game 4.

Less than 18 hours later, the two teams met again for an afternoon game in Oakland.

Holding a 2-1 lead in the eighth inning with two outs, the tying run aboard and AL Most Valuable Player Miguel Tejada hitting, Hawkins took the advice of Twins advance scout Paul Molitor. Molitor said Tejada looked tired late in the regular season and advised Twins pitchers not to throw him a single off-speed pitch. Hawkins blew Tejada away with only fastballs to preserve the lead.

Moments later, Pierzynski put the game out of reach, blasting a three-run homer to increase the lead to four. He celebrated with an epic pimp job similar to the swag shown by current Twins players like Carlos Correa and Royce Lewis.

“We also ended that movie,” Pierzynski told The Athletic in 2020, referring to the Brad Pitt-Jonah Hill feature film about the 2002 A’s.

What Cuddyer recollects is the whirlwind of travel. The Twins flew that night, after Game 4, to California, and the two teams played the clincher in the middle of the afternoon the next day.

“It was nuts,” Cuddyer said.

Unlike those Twins, the 2023 club received two days off after sweeping Toronto. The Twins held a voluntary workout at Target Field on Thursday before flying to Texas. They’ll participate in a formal workout on Friday.

Back in 2002, the Twins flew home after Game 5 and held a workout day before hosting the Angels in Game 1 of the ALCS the following day.

“You enjoy it,” Pierzynski said. “You enjoy the crap out of it. The Twins know better than anybody, it’s really hard to win a playoff series. It’s hard first of all to get to the playoffs, it’s harder once you start narrowing (the field) down to win the series. You need to enjoy it for at least that day. … Be ready on Saturday. The thing is, you turn the page quickly because you’re like, ‘OK, Blue Jays are done, now onto the Astros.’”

As he watched the celebration Wednesday, Hawkins took time to appreciate the big picture. He’s been around the Twins for much of the season, playing a role in minor-league development and assisting the front office.

To see the plan culminate in a Champagne celebration, Hawkins was tickled, even if it disrupted the badass weekend he had planned.

“All the ups and downs, all the different pieces,” Hawkins said. “Having to trade away (Luis) Arraez to get a piece that we needed. Things like that, when it’s in the moment and it’s happening, a lot of people don’t understand it. But the final outcome and the vision from the front office was this right here. It’s what we needed. I’m just happy for the fans, they get to see it. They get to see us win a playoff series and hopefully a couple more.

“It’s October baseball. Anything is possible.”


 



YouTube TV doesn’t have MLB Network anymore. But maybe the Fox Sports app will have it?

 
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Unfortunate outcome for Lewis there. He beats it out if 100%.
 







Get through the rest of this with Maeda, Paddock and Pagan. Try again tomorrow.
 




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