For nearly 150 days — almost five months — the Detroit Tigers held first place in the American League Central.
But each time it looked like the Tigers would pull away, those pesky Minnesota Twins would not let them. And so, we have another year that ended with a one-game playoff for Minnesota. It is a bad habit that these Twins have developed, adding a little drama to everything. And despite having had the odds heavily stacked against them, the Twins are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2006 after their 6-5, 12 inning victory last night.
But let me be a realist for a second, because in all honesty, Minnesota had no business being here.
The Twins were three games behind the Tigers with just four games left, seven games back with a month to play and six games under .500 in mid-August. And yet they still finished by winning 17 of their last 21 games despite the loss of former MVP Justin Morneau for most of the final month.
So I'm just wondering: How did the Twins even force a one-game playoff? Again. Despite everyone writing their 2009 obituary at least three times.
After all, this is essentially the same team as last year, because Minnesota neglected to address any of its problems in the offseason. For goodness sake, its marquee acquisition was Joe Crede, and he unsurprisingly went down with an injury at the same time as Morneau.
And that was okay, because Ron Gardenhire could count on a deep rotation to bring his team to the playoffs, right? Wrong. Francisco Liriano never found the magic that has eluded him since his dreaded Tommy John surgery. Kevin Slowey? He had wrist surgery in July. Glen Perkins? Shoulder trouble.
The Twins had to throw rookies like Anthony Swarzak and Jeff Manship to the wolves just to have someone on the mound. Minnesota traded FOR Carl Pavano (who is basically only good against Detroit, so it may have worked out) to solve their pitching woes. I don't have to tell anyone, especially Yankees fans, why that is ridiculous.
And yet, that move worked out. So too did management's decision to wait until August to address the team's bullpen woes with trades for Ron Mahay and Jon Rauch. It was like a lightbulb went on and reminded the Twins that Joe Nathan can't be one of the best closers in the game if he never pitches.
And that doesn't end the list of unlikely sources of success. Forget Mauer, Kubel, Cuddyer and Span — those guys have carried this team all season. Instead, look at what some of the worst hitters in baseball did down the stretch.
Twins fans have had to deal with a steady dose of Delmon Young in left field. Before the stretch run, Young was better known for being the most disappointing No. 1 draft pick in sports this side of Michael Olowokandi. All of a sudden, however, Young became the new Mr. Clutch, delivering multi-homer games after spending most of the year as an automatic strikeout.
And how about the former proverbial pu-pu platter of offensive inefficiency that was Matt Tolbert, Nick Punto, Alexi Casilla and Orlando Cabrera? Last night's hero, Casilla, was so dreadful that he had not even played in 15 of the last 21 games. Tolbert has hit over .300 since taking over for Crede at third, while Cabrera had hit .433 in his last 15 games going into last night, when he launched a huge two-run homer — all after a slow start to his career in Minnesota. And Punto … is still Punto. Hey, you can't win them all.
It is because of these players that Minnesota will be in New York tonight playing the Yankees. The Twins seem to play their best when they have nothing to lose and are counted out. So go ahead and predict a Yankees sweep. It wouldn't be the first time the Twins have had to prove everyone wrong.
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Ethan Landy is a senior majoring in English. He can be reached at Ethan.Landy@tufts.edu
