The Twins Aren't the Only First Place Team to Fall This Season

[Cooper Carlson]

As we all know, the Twins have fallen out of first place this season and are struggling to get back up there. This isn’t only happening to the Twins, as two other American League powerhouse teams have fallen off a bit.2020 has been a wild year and it has been no different in baseball. For example, the Orioles and the Marlins seem likely to sneak into the playoffs at this point. Who saw that coming? We have seen the Twins, a team thought to be the favorite for first place, fall to third in their division. We have also seen two other elite teams, the Yankees and Astros, fall much further than the Twins. What happened?

 

New York Yankees: 21-21, third in ALE, lost 5 in a row

 

The Yankees missing the playoffs could be the best thing to ever happen to the Minnesota Twins franchise. After losing 5 in a row and not looking very competitive lately they find themselves with a .500 record and just a 0.5 game lead over Baltimore for the final playoff spot. Their offense has the 17th highest WAR and 14th highest OPS. The pitching has the 20th highest WAR and the 13th worst ERA.

 

Just like last season, this is largely due to an insane amount of injuries. Out of the 42 games played, Judge has missed 24, Stanton has missed 28, Torres has missed 12, LeMahieu has been hurt, and it just doesn’t get better. On the pitching side they have been without Luis Severino, Cole has a FIP of 4.64 and Paxton has an ERA of 6.64 so things aren’t going great there either.

 

The Twins have certainly had their share of injuries, but what the Yankees are going through is unbelievable. Judge and Stanton are always hurt and the rest of the team just hasn’t performed and yet I do not feel bad at all. I really hope they miss the playoffs to the Baltimore Orioles.

 

Houston Astros: 22-21, 2nd in ALW, lost 7 of their last 10

 

I think everyone in America is happy to see the Astros struggle this season. After coming off an offseason where the organization was exposed for cheating and very little punishment was given out, no one is an Astros fan outside of Houston.

 

Like the Yankees, Houston has had a couple of their star players hit the IL with Alex Bregman on the 10 day and Yordan Alvarez out for the season. Besides that, the offense hasn’t performed well with only three players having an OPS over .800 and Altuve not doing well at all. He has fallen to a .606 OPS and a 69 wRC+ this season. George Springer and Carlos Correa haven’t been as bad, but they are definitely below expectations. They lost both Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander so their starting pitching was doomed from the start.

 

We like to look at the Twins “fall” out of first place but they’re still a very good team behind two teams who are red hot. At least we aren’t watching the Yankees or Astros 2020 implosions because that seems painful. As we always say, thank goodness we’re Twins fans and not Yankees fans! It’s so much easier.

 

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[Shaitan]

What's the incentive to win the division if the top 8 teams make the playoffs and there are no home games?

[Trov]

 

What's the incentive to win the division if the top 8 teams make the playoffs and there are no home games?

Has there been an announcement for a bubble in playoffs yet?  I have not seen it.  I know they have talked about it.  That being said, home team, regardless of where, has an advantage of hitting last.   

[Trov]

In terms of Yankees, they at least still have their starting catcher, sure he is hitting like he is on the injured list, but we are on catchers 3 and 4.  We also lost our starting 3b for half the season, starting cf for a few weeks, and been rotating pitchers like crazy because of injuries.  Every team has dealt with injuries some maybe more than others.  It is the fact that the starters or fill ins have faded when the stars have gone on shelf.  

 

Maybe it is the pressure, or maybe it is the circumstances of COVID that is messing with players heads, but there are a lot of top talent that are not playing anywhere close to what they normally do this season.   

[LanceJS]

I would not call playing .600 ball a "fall" - it just means the competition in the division is better and the certainly is the case this year in the AL Central.  As for the Yankees, their injury replacements are not the same caliber as last year.  I also believe that shows that the lack of a minor league season creates this problem.  AAA players can practice all they want at the alternate site, but actual game action is completely different.

[Joey P]

I am now officially an Orioles fan. Boo Yankees! 

[dbminn]

 

What's the incentive to win the division if the top 8 teams make the playoffs and there are no home games?

 

As it sits right now, the first round will be played entirely at the home park of the higher seed. The Twins are 18-5 at home and 9-13 on the road.

[Brandon]

The Twins lost 6 in a row. Before that they were 20 -10 and since 7-2. I think the worst is behind us and hopefully we get our Catching back soon.

[bighat]

I'll be rubbing my hands together and cackling with glee if somehow the Yankees don't make the playoffs. C'mon Orioles!

 

That said, if this were any normal year the Yanks would be on the outside looking in. At this point you almost have to be trying NOT to make it to the post-season. The expanded system for 2020 is an absolute joke and one of many gut-punches to the integrity of baseball this year.