Are Moral Victories Enough?

[Sherry Cerny]

When it comes to the Twins, I have always been okay with moral victories. Maybe that’s because in my lifetime I have seen my team win two World Series Championships. Maybe it’s because the last time I remember the rush of a winning season I was 11. Sure, there have been postseason wins since 1991, but there have been losing seasons as well. Losing seasons that really don’t make a lot of sense because we had the team to achieve greatness, and the players that could make things happen.

 

Image courtesy of Matthew Taylor, Twins Daily

The Minnesota Twins front office rarely makes moves like they did this offseason with the players they brought into the clubhouse. The organization stacked the team with players like Luis Arraez, Carlos Correa, Byron Buxton, Tyler Mahle, Joe Ryan and Chris Paddack, to name some of the outstanding players on the roster. On paper, there was nothing that could stand in our way, until it did. 

The season started with a lockout, not only restricting players on playing time in spring training, but also starting the season later. Everything kind of shifted, and while the lockout could certainly be to blame for the onset of early injuries, the number of injuries that came throughout the season were just too much to handle. 

Players as individuals had outstanding seasons. Luis Arraez won the American League batting title. Carlos Correa had one of his best seasons. Gio Urshela found himself in a new environment that allowed him to flourish, and players like Joe Ryan and Jhoan Durán had breakout rookie seasons. “Individual players had good seasons, but nothing gelled into a full team unit because of all the injuries,” says Kristy T., a lifelong, avid Twins fan. She’s right on the silver lining positive side. Many players did have great seasons, but nothing stuck for the team to get somewhere together. 

So what does a “winning” season look like? For some people, a winning season for the Twins would have been beating the Yankees in the postseason. An impossible feat for the Twins to somehow manage every season. Being able to stay competitive is a huge part of making it to the postseason. And before all the injuries, the Twins certainly were trending in that direction. If the Twins were able to stay competitive, they would have been able to see the postseason. Then, yes, beating the Yankees to make it past round two to win the ALDS and losing in the playoffs potentially could have been enough. 

All year long, websites like Baseball Savant and Fangraphs show the probability of teams making the playoffs based on their records and game stats. The Twins were certainly trending in the direction that they were going to make the postseason, but that changed dramatically after the All-Star Break.

Being a small-market team  with a front office that typically doesn’t make big moves and spend big money, beating the big-market teams like the Yankees, Dodgers and Mets can seem daunting or impossible. But the Cleveland Guardians, who have the third lowest payroll in MLB, continued to gain momentum as the season went on. They stayed healthy, and not only took the division, but the wild-card win as well. Is that enough? Or at this point, do they want it all? If the Guardians lose, will the youngest team in baseball be okay with just making it as far as they did? 

Baseball is a game of failure. Failure teaches a player how to be great after failing, how to make adjustments, and how to grow from that failure. Derek Jeter was not great, he had to put in a lot of hard work initially. Jeter won his first World Series his rookie season. After that he was disappointed with any season they didn’t win the World Series because he wanted to win, and he knew they could win. His early-set expectations were that because of the management and the roster, winning the World Series was not only possible, but attainable, almost on a yearly basis. Equally, the expectations of Yankees fans are only focused on the World Series. And when those expectations are not met, there is no “well, there is always next season.” They revel in their misery until the following season. 

Expectations play a huge part in the consensus of moral victories. If the expectation is that the team is going to win every season, then a fan isn’t going to see moral victories. On the flip side, if a fan’s expectation is simply that their team is going to be better than they were last season, then moral victories will play a higher role in their opinion about where the team ends the season. Of the Twins fans I talked to, words like “rationally” were used when describing the bigger picture of what expectations for the Club are. 

Looking forward to next season is easier when there is no expectation of making it to the postseason. Understandably, there are small victories for players: the ability to improve, lowering their ERA, improving their batting average, winning awards and reaching specific goals professionally and contractually. The Twins certainly have had small victories across the season. And looking forward to next season--depending on a few moves from the front office-- the Twins are truly set for success in 2023, but you can’t wish and hope for a season to successful. Based on the current roster, this writer's expectation for next season is making it to the World Series. I am beyond grateful for the players we have. A lot of them made it a lot of fun to watch this season, but I am ready to feel the rush of adrenaline that comes from competitive, contentious games in the postseason. 

Do you believe that moral victories are just as meaningful as winning it all? Do you believe in moral victories at all? Is it irrational to have consistent expectations of winning all the time? Let me know what you think in the comments. 

 

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