The Greatest Twins Season that Never Happened

The date is July 7, 2010. It’s the top of the eighth inning and Justin Morneau is playing in front of his home nation. After driving a single to center field off Scott Downs, Morneau finds himself a part of Jason Kubel’s 4-6-3 double play. Unfortunately, this one wasn’t routine. Justin slid into the bag and upon doing so took a knee to the head from Toronto second basemen John McDonald. As a former hockey player, it wasn’t his first concussion, but this one would definitely be the most memorable.

Morneau went on to play another 597 games from that point forward. He did it in uniforms for the Twins, Pirates, Rockies, and White Sox. His .764 OPS was a lackluster one, and while he did win a batting title in Colorado during 2014, there was no denying the guy was never the same. It’s that moment during the 2010 season though that begs the question: What did we actually miss out on?

Going into that year Morneau had played seven big league seasons. He owned an .851 OPS and had already won an MVP at the age of 25. He was a three-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger. To say that the Twins had a superstar first basemen to go along with their elite catcher was nothing short of obvious. In 2010 though, things had reached otherworldly levels.

That season, the first of Target Field’s existence, Morneau played the first half like a man of legend. He owned a .345/.437/.618 slash line. In just 81 games he’d blasted 18 dingers and recorded 56 RBI. He was on pace for 50 doubles, which would have been a career high, and he was tracking toward surpassing 200 hits in a season for the only time in his career. To say the production at that point was unprecedented would be selling it short.

It wasn’t like Morneau was impressive just among Twins hitters either. That 2010 team won 94 games, the AL Central, and appeared in the ALDS. Through those first 81 games Morneau compiled more than 300 plate appearances. His 183 wRC+ was first in the game, topping Hall of Fame teammate Jim Thome. His .448 wOBA bested superstar Josh Hamilton. Producing 5.0 fWAR to that point, he would’ve cleared Hamilton’s league leading 8.4 fWAR by more than a full win..

Looking back on some of those numbers since the year 2000, only 16 times have we seen a player surpass 183 wRC+. Six of those instances have been generated by either Barry Bonds (4) or Albert Pujols (2). In that same time we’ve gotten 10.0 fWAR seasons just 9 times, half of those from Bonds and another two from Mike Trout. That’s the company of numbers Justin Morneau was among. He was also compiling those while playing a defensively overlooked position and without the aid of any performance enhancers.

You won’t find many (maybe any) fans around Twins Territory that don’t fondly remember Justin Morneau. It was weird seeing him in a White Sox uniform, and odd celebrating him winning that batting title with the Rockies. He’s become a mainstay in Minneapolis now, and his presence on Fox Sports North broadcast has immediately been celebrated. There’s nothing that could take away from his on-field production, and the unity as part of the M&M Boys with Joe Mauer are feelings that will never leave. None of that stands in comparison to how good 2010 could have been.

Rod Carew gave the Twins 8.6 fWAR back in 1977. Joe Mauer produced 8.4 fWAR in 2009. They both went on to win MVP in each of those years. Justin was on track to do that and more in 2010 and we all had that taken away. It’s unfair to speculate on what could have been, but it’s foolish not to recognize what was.

I’m certainly glad that the career of Justin Morneau didn’t end that July day in Canada. I’m also beyond disappointed that season was robbed from us and what was ahead became stunningly different from anything we could have expected.

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