What Has Cursed These 2021 Minnesota Twins?

[Tom Froemming]

Curses and baseball go hand-in-hand. The 2021 Minnesota Twins appear to be a cursed club. So what’s to blame? After extensive research I've come up with three potential answers.

It took the Boston Red Sox 86 years to break the Curse of the Bambino and the Chicago Cubs 71 years to break the Curse of the Billy Goat. Let’s hope whatever’s happening to the 2021 Minnesota Twins it doesn’t loom over the team for that long.

Of course, revisionist history will apply any curses back to originating in 1991 and provide some explanation behind the 0-18 drought, but something feels different about 2021. There’s an extra serving of curses (or is that just my vocabulary?)

After doing extensive research on the topic, I’ve come up with three possible origins of the curse.

1. Curse of the T___s

One of the common memes that always pops back up after the Twins get swept out of the playoffs involves taking the “win” out of Twins. They’re either referred to as the T___s or the Tins accompanied by an altered logo such as this one:

Well, no need to crack open any image editing software now, the Team has done the work for you. This year's promotional campaign appears to taken the “win” out of Twins. Some of the glitchy, pixel art stuff they’ve done for their promotional material has been kinda rad, but what is this even supposed to be? Go who? That certainly doesn't say Twins.

It's bad enough this joke is so on point in the first place. Didn't need the team feed fuel to the fire.

2. Curse of the Fox

That’s right, the Cubs had a billy goat, the Twins have a fox. Fox Sports North, that is. The rebranding from Fox to Bally Sports North has come along with a disastrous turn for the Twins. 

Don’t think this one carries any weight? Well, the Twins won the only game they played so far that wasn’t broadcast on BSN. On April 28, the Twins beat Cleveland 10-2 on YouTube’s MLB Game of the Week. The numbers don't lie.

Maybe it’s just the Curse of Victory Sports One living on ...

3. Curse of the Evergreen Ghost

This is my personal spin on an old favorite here. The Twins opened Target Field in 2010 with beautiful evergreen trees in front of the batter’s eye. They went 94-68 (.580) that season, with a particularly impressive 53-28 (.654) record at home. 

That winter, they relocated the trees, which hitters had complained about being a distraction. In a fall that’s feeling all too familiar at the moment, the Twins went from 94 wins to 99 losses. Three more losing seasons followed.

Prior to the 2019 season, the team installed a living wall of evergreen plants and the team won its first division title since the trees were still up. So, problem solved, right?

WRONG. Field's haunted.

The 2019 green wall installation was enough to temporarily appease the Evergreen Ghost, but it’s not enough. It demands more. The entire outfield wall needs to be covered in these things like Wrigley Field’s ivy. Yes, we’ve moved from curses to hauntings. I don’t know what to tell you, this is just how the paranormal works. Seems fitting for this 2021 Twins team so far.

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[h2oface]

The curse of the TD writers (and universally many others) claiming they were so good and anointing them to take the pennant and go to the world series?

[Tom Froemming]

24 minutes ago, h2oface said:

The curse of the TD writers (and univerally many others) claiming they were so good and anointing them to take the pennant and go to the world series?

Maybe. Could be the curse of the TD readers who are grumpy no matter what happens anyway. ?

[h2oface]

34 minutes ago, Tom Froemming said:

Maybe. Could be the curse of the TD readers who are grumpy no matter what happens anyway. ?

Maybe. But then, once you go down the curse road, you are living in a fantasy world no matter what perspective.

[Vanimal46]

Did I stumble upon a RandsBall Stu article posted under the wrong name? This isn’t the typical article or video I’ve seen from you, Tom. 

[VivaBomboRivera!]

Manfred ordered squirrel repellent applied at all ball parks?

[JustinCB]

My content isn't approved by a moderator

[tony&rodney]

The curse of worshipping analytics. The Twins bet on thumping with multiple DHs at the expense of an all around sound defense and a bullpen.

[old nurse]

8 hours ago, h2oface said:

Maybe. But then, once you go down the curse road, you are living in a fantasy world no matter what perspective.

The grumpy fans are pretty much in a fantasy world long before there is talk of a curse

[old nurse]

It is the curse of the Yankees. The only way to beat it is to do what the North Stars did to the Bruins. 

[Tom Froemming]

8 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

Did I stumble upon a RandsBall Stu article posted under the wrong name? This isn’t the typical article or video I’ve seen from you, Tom. 

Gotta make sure to have a laugh every once in awhile, especially when things have gone as poorly as they have.

[Dodecahedron]

Twins brass was really proud of those trees.  One Morneau complaint later -> firewood.

[Dman]

Tom I am with you on the curse theory.  There have just been so many untimely breakdowns it is uncanny.  One pitcher in the bullpen blows a game up. The defense loses games.  The offense can't get hits with men on base.  The starting pitcher implodes.  It is just one crazy thing after another.

I think it shows that in any sport a break here or there can make a big difference and if you don't get many breaks you can look like a bad team in a hurry get a bunch of breaks and you can look better than you are.  It is a tough year for the Twins to have a year like this as we were all pretty starved for baseball and for them to play almost unwatchable games has not been fun.

Like Sano the other night I am hoping this team finds some breaks gets some confidence and comes roaring back but if the baseball gods say no way then it looks like a long year.  On the bright side if they do have a terrible year it should help the FO look at team construction differently and prepare better for next year.

 

 

[SoDakTwinsFan4]

Happier times

[Craig Arko]

Baba Yaga.

[Dodecahedron]

The Twins are not cursed.  Twins fans are.  The team can control the situation, we can't.

Usually, it's not difficult to analyze why the Twins implode, when they do.  Random unfortunate events are not the problem.

The '82 team, now that team was cursed.  They played well most of the year but kept losing anyway.

[MMMordabito]

12 hours ago, h2oface said:

The curse of the TD writers (and universally many others) claiming they were so good and anointing them to take the pennant and go to the world series?

No kidding.  After reading some articles, I had Kepler penciled in for Yelich MVP-years numbers, Maeda competing for a Cy and Garver/Jeffers as the most enviable catching tandem in MLB.

[minman1982]

What is cursing the Twins is terrible pitching and poor performance in high leverage situations.  The Twins currently have the worst pitching staff by WAR in MLB (no surprise to anyone).  While you might like to blame the relievers for this, the starters have helped lead the charge to the bottom of the MLB.  Minnesota starting pitchers are currently the second worst in MLB by WAR (better than only the Chicago Cubs).  In fact, the only Minnesota pitcher that is pitching consistent with his past performance is Big Mike. 

While the Twins offense has generally been decent (they are somehow still in the top 10 in SLG, AVG, OPS, and a host of other offensive stats as a team), it doesn't take much statistical analysis to know that it has not performed in high leverage and late inning situations.  I don't think it is any surprise that the Twins are in the bottom 10 in almost every conceivable batting stat in the late innings and with RISP and 2 outs.  They are also an insane 0-7 in extra inning games and I think they have only won one or two one run games.  If you can't generate offense in the eighth, ninth, and tenth innings, you are going to have a ton of trouble winning close games.

Some of this could be chalked up to "bad luck" and may work itself out over the course of the long season but so far this season has been watching everything that could go wrong, go wrong.  Bad luck, cursed, or not, I can't imagine this team being able to dig itself out of the hole they are in.  It is time to think about next summer and what types of moves need to be made the rest of the season and this upcoming off-season to improve this team moving forward.

[twinfan]

Funny article. Thanks. But the Twins are cursed because they started going super long ball in 2019 and forgot what has been winning for them up til then. Plus they have lost some key components in the past 2 years and their replacements have not lived up to snuff except for Maeda who has slipped somewhat this year (probably back to a more normal pace for him). I guess we all somewhat over-rated the team because of what happened last year and the fact that we are fans of the team and we play in a relatively weak division.

[AceWrigley]

Jobu is not happy with us.

[chpettit19]

There's a bunch of real grumps around here. Can't take a day off from being negative and just enjoy a silly post and relax a bit? Season has been a disaster and Tom is trying to have a little fun with it. Relax folks, the Twins are sorry for ruining your lives.

[strumdatjag]

The Trees are indeed the #1 curse for Target Field.   Bring back the Trees. 

I’m surprised that nobody wanted to tout the “Bert Curse” for this year.    I reject that because this year the curse(s) must be related to the pandemic:   So here are my proposed curses:

The Andrelton Simmons Bonehead Vaccine-Refusal Curse:   Simmons publicly refused the Covid vaccine and then caught the virus   Several other players became infected soon thereafter    (although Twins tried to claim it wasn’t Simmons).  Time cannot erase this curse.   Trade Simmons and bring up Nick Gordon.  

The Curse of Rocco’s Post-Game Mask:  Rocco, during his post-game news conferences, continues to wear that mask with apparently nobody else nearby.   As long as he continues to wear it post-game, the Twins will play sub .450.    
 

 

[lukeduke1980]

In previous regimes, I thought the curse was a Curse of Carl, where Mr. Pohlad and TR decided that it economically viable to contend for a Division Crown, but not for the WS.  Producers-like. Hard to complain too much, Target Field exists in part due to the 2000s Division crowns. I hoped that Falvey would be able to reverse this Curse by replacing retread pitchers with Cleveland-like homegrown pitching talent.  A few Derek Laws later I have to think this curse is festering. 

[Nine of twelve]

The Twins were 5-4 after the games of April 11. They have gone 9-23 since then. We have been cursed by the accursed virus-that-must-not-be-named.

[Tom Froemming]

1 hour ago, chpettit19 said:

There's a bunch of real grumps around here. Can't take a day off from being negative and just enjoy a silly post and relax a bit? Season has been a disaster and Tom is trying to have a little fun with it. Relax folks, the Twins are sorry for ruining your lives.

It's OK, I understand if people are having a difficult time having a sense of humor about anything related to this team right now. 

[chpettit19]

50 minutes ago, Tom Froemming said:

It's OK, I understand if people are having a difficult time having a sense of humor about anything related to this team right now. 

Humor is all this team has provided so far this year ?

[mikedialect]

#2 all the way. I blame Bally 94% and 6% on Bert no longer doing games.

[mike8791]

This will probably be tossed out by TD because content is a wee bit negative.  However, this poster finds little humor in the 2021 season so in an attempt to maybe initiate a real discussion of  the origins of Systems Failure 2.0,  here are my 3 curses:

1.  Jim Pohlad/ownership for looking at the Twins as nothing more than a P & L item rather than a community investment with the sole goal of bringing a world championship to the Twin Cities.  As a result, they focus on hiring executives  who subscribe to a conservative approach to building a winner instead of rolling the dice to go all in when the "window seems wide open."

2. Falvey/Lavine for their aversion to risk taking,  as well as their hubris in believing they are smarter than everyone else in knowing how to build a sustainable contender by concentrating strictly on an analytical numbers approach to player evaluation.

3. Baldelli for his inept game management,  inability to provide leadership, and over protection of his players similar to Little League.  This team was soft under Gardy and Molly, as indicated by a record 19 game losing streak in the playoffs, but Rocco beats both in his cluelessness in how to motivate a talented, but spiritless roster.

Truly a perfect storm.