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Blogs

mikelink45's Blog

End of week two - who is in?

With minimum games and the potential that not all the teams will play 60 games the playoffs get quite interesting   With the 16 game playoffs who is in and who is out?   Based on percentage:   American League   Yankees, Twins, Athletics are the division leaders   Second place teams: Baltimore (really), White Sox, Astros   Next two – wild cards – best percentages Cleveland and Detroit (yes Gardy’s gang)     National League First seeds: Atlanta, Cubs, Rockies (really)   Second group: Miami (yes on
mikelink45's Blog

Just a question

We have had Marlins, Phillies, and now Cardinals test positive. We have had replacement games with the poor Yankees having to play the highly rated Orioles.   Monday the Postponed games were - Yankees at Phillies; Orioles at Marlins. Tuesday - Postponed games: Yankees at Phillies; Orioles at Marlins. Wednesday - Postponed games: Phillies at Yankees; Orioles at Marlins. Replacement game: Yankees at Orioles. Thursday - Postponed games: Phillies at Yankees; Orioles at Marlins. Replacement game: Yan
Off The Baggy

Where Is MLB’s Planned Taxi Squad?

This morning Major League Baseball was hit with another blow. The St. Louis Cardinals had two players test positive for COVID-19 with an immediate fallout of postponement of action against the Milwaukee Brewers. We’re playing through a pandemic here however, so what really was the plan?   When Rob Manfred and the owners finally came to agreement on economics it appeared, they also had sorted out safety protocols. What it seems they didn’t have ironed out was the logistics surrounding continuatio
Off The Baggy

The Most Interesting Man in Minnesota

Over the winter Twins fans clamored for starting pitching. After losing to the Yankees in the Postseason again, a constant bugaboo was deemed the source of weakness. Needing an ace, the Twins sought out some arms. Swinging a deal for Kenta Maeda was nice, but it may be Rich Hill that represents the haul.   Sure, he’s 40 years old but try telling Nelson Cruz that’s a milestone anyone should care about. The reality is that Hill has both been often hurt and often good. Good probably isn’t even a fa
Twins Adjacent

Breaking down the 2020 Twins walk-up songs

The excitement of the home opener is a bit muted this year, but the excitement surrounding the release of the Twins walk-up song list is virus-proof, judging by the response to this Dustin Morse tweet this afternoon:   In an effort to break it all down and so this doesn't spin out of control, I’m mainly just going to cover the batting order for the home opener, but I’ve added a few other favorites from the pitchers and bench players, as well as a much-needed walk-up song for manager Rocco
Off The Baggy

Riding the Rollercoaster with the Twins

This weekend was an absolute blast. The Minnesota Twins took the field and despite a hiccup on Saturday, looked the part of a superior team ready to assert themselves. On their off-day Monday, Major League Baseball did its best to go up in flames. I expected a rollercoaster this season, but I’m not sure this was how I envisioned it.   Max Kepler started the season with a dinger, and then he went ahead and did it again. Nelson Cruz blasted his way into the record books with a seven-RBI performanc
Twinternationals

[PT] Recapping the Twins first series win of the year

Welcome to Twinternationals! This is a space for Twins fans from different countries to read about their team in their native language. This section is run by Venezuelan Mariana Guzmán (@TwinsLatinos) and Brazilian Thiéres Rabelo (@TwinsBrasil).   Por Thiéres Rabelo   Minnesota não teve vida fácil em sua primeira série do ano. O Twins venceu duas das três partidas contra o White Sox, fora de casa e apesar de ter tido certa dificuldade contra este bom e renovado Chicago, a primeira impressão foi
mikelink45's Blog

Covid's coming

Here are a couple quotes from ESPN - "The Minnesota Vikings announced Monday that head trainer Eric Sugarman and members of his family have tested positive for the coronavirus.   "Sugarman also is the Vikings' infection control officer. He said in a statement that he and his family immediately quarantined and "are all doing fine and experiencing only mild symptoms."   "The Vikings said they are sanitizing their facility and contacted anyone who was in close contact with Sugarman. The team said t
Off The Baggy

Four Months of Waiting, but Twins Baseball is Here

It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. When I went down to Fort Myers in early March to cover the Twins, I wasn’t supposed to leave under the haze of a global pandemic. My office has been closed for months. Sports have been shelved just as long. The Twins defending the AL Central crown wasn’t intended to take place in just a 60-game sprint. None of this was supposed to happen, but here we are, and we have baseball.   I don’t know if we’ll get through the entire schedule. I think MLB has done a
SD Buhr/Jim Crikket

Bet On It! Part 5 - Opening Day Edition

With Opening Day of the 2020 Major League Baseball season now upon us, I thought I would take a quick peek at what, if any, adjustments the sportsbooks I subscribe to have made compared to those I posted in Part 4 of this "Bet On It!" series earlier in July, as teams were making their way back into their abbreviated summer camps.   It turns out, however, that my fellow betting subscribers have given the oddsmakers at William Hill and Elite Sportsbook very little reason to make adjustments to the
Off The Baggy

Projecting the 2020 AL Central Division

We’ve finally made it and baseball is back in just a matter of days. The Minnesota Twins will kick off this 60-game sprint in Chicago, and they’ll look to distance themselves from a team looking to prove they’re ready. I put out a 162-game projection back in February, but with so many logistical changes and update is necessary.   I don’t foresee any changes in the positioning among the teams from where I had them at the beginning of the year, but we’re obviously only going to play roughly one-th
Off The Baggy

Projecting the Twins 30-Man Opening Day Roster 2.0

We’ve made it, we have finally made it. The long-running national nightmare seems to be nearly over. On Friday night we will have a Twins baseball game that counts. Back in late June I projected the 30-man Opening Day roster for Minnesota. A few changes have been made and it’s time for an update.   While Summer Camp has been relatively uneventful for the Twins, there have been a few key developments. Thankfully, Byron Buxton’s injury scare doesn’t seem like it will hold him back. Luis Arraez als
mikelink45's Blog

Should we trade or shouldn't we?

I am always curious about trades – do they work in the short run, long run or not at all? How do we judge the Twins trades? I am not interested in the end of the career moves of Killebrew and Thome, but rather the movement of players who will have a career that goes on for a few years after the trade. Most likely the balance between good and bad will even out after a number of years, although David Ortiz will always be a thorn in the Minnesota Twins field. But then Ortiz was not traded - we cut
Off The Baggy

Twins May Need to Shuffle Opening Day

There’s no denying that the Minnesota Twins are one of baseball’s most exciting teams. Their bullpen should rank among the league’s best, and the lineup is one that provides envy to virtually every other group out there. Kicking off a weird 2020 season though, they may need to make some changes.   When Byron Buxton went down in a heap after tracking a fly ball on Monday night the worst was feared. Fortunately, it’s just a mid-foot sprain, and while that may have some lingering effects, there’s s
Off The Baggy

Jose Berrios and the Impact of a Short Season

Major League Baseball is going to try its hardest to play a 60-game season in 2020. Starting on July 24, the Minnesota Twins will look to repeat as AL Central Division champs, and this time they’ll hope the Postseason run is a bit longer. If Rocco Baldelli’s club is going to take that next step, they’ll need a big contribution from staff ace Jose Berrios.   For the past few years, I’ve wondered about the possibility of Berrios winning a Cy Young. Certainly, there’s plenty of strong competition,
mikelink45's Blog

sixty

Somehow I am trying to get my head around sixty games - and I keep coming up with the number 60 must have some significance or the curmudgeons that rule baseball might have taken the players options like 104 games. And of course 60 is the magic number - It is Babe Ruth.   Sorry but 73 is a number I have to look up to remember Mr Bonds, maybe I need steroids to improve my memory. And Mark McGwire your 70 was really fun because you and Sammy smiled every day, but it was like a fantasy game and we
Ports on Sports Blog

Minnesota Twins: A Team Built for Short Season Success

Ahhh, the pandemic!! It’s meaning to you is varied, personal and diverse. One thing I believe the nation is ready for is baseball! Let’s get the bats cracking and baseball humming. As MLB firms up its abbreviated spring season, sorting out all the COVID wrinkles, the Minnesota Twins are built for a season of this diversity. This team was assembled to win this year so let’s hope starting the season is a Twins blessing. Let’s take a look why. Before we dive into specifics, let’s look at intangibl
Baseball Good

What Are We Going To Do About This Hand Twin Thing?

A friend of mine passed away over the holiday weekend.   We had attended high school together, were distant friends through college, and spent two years as roommates back in the cities after that.   When we lived together, he was attending culinary school and the roommates would have the benefit of eating food that is normally not accessible to broke post-college kids trying to repay student loans. He would concoct four course meals and we were more than happy to be test subjects.   We’d decl
Off The Baggy

Leadership is Failing Baseball at a Critical Juncture

For month we watched a public mudslinging fest take place between MLB owners and the Players Union. While the two sides have always been at odds, it’s leadership that the sport’s commissioner is supposed to provide. Rob Manfred may be a very intelligent man, but you wouldn’t know if looking at the results of his actions.   Major League Baseball owners are represented by one man, Manfred. He was chosen having come from a labor negotiations background. With the sport likely coming to an ugly labor
SD Buhr/Jim Crikket

Bet On It! Part 4

When I posted Part 3 of this "Bet On It!" series back on March 8, it's unlikely any of us could have foreseen that four months later we still wouldn't have seen Major League Baseball's Opening Day.   Within just a couple of weeks from the time that article was posted, pretty much all MLB bets had been taken off the board at the sportsbooks.   Now, as we try to celebrate our nation's birthday, the two books that I'm a member of have begun to post some MLB baseball action, though neither William H
Baseball Good

Baseball Is Back. So Am I.

The question I’ve received the most the past few months is why was my original Twitter account suspended.   On March 13 I was covering the Twins in Fort Myers on what would be the last normal day before everything in this world went goofy.   I awoke at the Twins Daily-rented AirBnB, and immediately checked Twitter on my phone as I am wont to do in case I missed something earth shattering in the six hours since I last peeked in.       Account suspended, it read.   I couldn’t pull down the stream
SD Buhr/Jim Crikket

A Shortened MLB Season? Bring It On!

It may be because I’ve spent years enjoying Class A Midwest League baseball, which routinely splits its season into two halves with every team’s record resetting to 0-0 by mid-to-late June, but I find myself embracing the plans for big leaguers to sprint through a 60-game Major League season in 2020.   I am not only embracing it, I’m excited about it!   (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com)   In fact, the only thing tempering my enthusiasm is the concern we all (I would ho
mikelink45's Blog

Health and careers

The Covid sickness that hit coach Tommy Hottovy created a memorable video https://www.espn.com/mlb/ as he discussed his case - it is good to watch since so many act like the Covid-19 is just another flu. As the TD contributor Doctor Gast states - the video is mostly about the pain of separation. Should you want to know more about the survival from this virus you might want to read this San Francisco report - https://www.sfgate.com/news/editorspicks/article/What-they-don-t-tell-you-about-survivi

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