Twins

This won’t be my normal game thread opener because this isn’t a normal game. I’ll be scrapping the '5 Things to Think About' format for the playoffs.

The normal game thread format developed out of necessity. There was a time when I was writing every single game thread opener and in desperate need of daily, relevant, game set up content. That content was not there without extreme repetition of the same points because things don’t change that much between game 47 and game 48. It was also a time when the team wasn’t playing very well… so those repetitive points were also depressing. It didn’t take long to realize that it just wasn’t sustainable. So, with the purpose of opening up more doors for content, I opened up more doors for content by mentioning anything that came to mind and crossing clear over the baseball lines.

Further, when Sam Deduno is your top pitcher, it’s very easy to start things negative and if you start negative… it will stay there. So… the easiest way to keep things light-hearted is by not mentioning that Sam Deduno is your top pitcher.

That’s how the game thread opener became what it became.

This is the first playoff game thread opener in the history of Twins Daily. Sam Deduno is long gone, and we've got ourselves a winning team, so it needs a different approach.

I’ve got my Eye Black on.

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Sure... monkeys look all cute and cuddly, especially when they shake their head no after being asked directions to the waterfall.

But the truth of the matter is this:

Monkeys can throw Grandma across the room. Monkeys are also fast and can easily outrun Grandma so she can't get away.

There is no such thing as a Rally Monkey. Monkeys in reality... they will hunt you down and get on your back and make that awful screeching sound while they do it.

We got Monkeys on the back of our youth. Does our youth know how to handle a monkey?

Here are some things to think about:

Shakespeare sets the scene at the very beginning of Richard III. That’s right… I’m pulling out Shakespeare on the opening game thread of the 2017 season. Shakespeare uses a lot of fancy words with unnecessary apostrophes, but after someone explains it all to you, the realization is that our Twins are a lot like Richard III.

An Ace! An Ace! My Kingdom for an Ace.

Happy MLB Draft Day 1, Twins fans!

Since it became clear that the Minnesota Twins had the #1 overall pick in the 2017 draft, which happened fairly early last September, the fandom has been very excited about who the Twins might be able to add at the top of the draft. That day has come.

This purpose of this article is to be a place for several draft-related resources and links, and a place for fans to keep updated of rumors and rumblings throughout the day. We ask that if you see an article online or a tweet with a rumor or nugget, that you post it in the comments below.

At 6:00 central time, the draft will officially start. Moments later, the Twins will make their much-anticipated draft selection. But that won’t be it for the night. The Twins also have the 35th and 37th overall picks as well. Twins Daily will post articles about those draft picks moments after they are made.

Note also that we will have Day 2 and Day 3 articles. In those articles, we will post the Twins picks made those days. Those articles will be updated throughout those two days. Rounds 3 through 10 are on Tuesday, and Rounds 11 through 40 will take place on Wednesday.

I last wrote a game thread opener on October 3rd, 2017. After the conclusion of that disappointing loss to the Yankees, I turned off my brain for the off-season. All this week, I’ve known that I will have to crank it up again but I’m having a little trouble getting it started up after the long layoff. I know that I’ll need to pump a little fuel into the carburetor so I’ve been pushing the primer button (my nose obviously), but now I’m concerned that I’ve flooded it because I have a cold.

Slight change to the format this year. I have run out of Cities and Towns to say strange things about so that will be replaced by a new crutch called the Top Non-Trump News Story (Or Stories) from yesterday. I’ll continue with thoughts on the Twins and their opponents. The Joe M conversation will remain… I didn’t get enough complaints to stop doing it. And, as usual, a random thought #5.

Anyway… I hope you are all primed for the start of a brand new season. It’s still March so we are starting a little early. Don’t push the big red primer button unless you are ready. Expectations are high… as of right now… it is still mathematically possible that the Twins go 162-0.

At 2:05 a pitch will be thrown and the baseball season will be opened. The contents of what is inside will slowly spill out and bit by bit the contents will be revealed. We don't know the contents right now. We assume what the contents are but we really don't know.

I'm hoping it's sunshine in a can.

It might be dog crap in a can... I don't know... But I do know this.

You open this can... it is certainly not a jack in the box that will surprise you.

It comes out slow... It takes a while to identify it.

Here are some things to think about!!!

First and foremost, there are literally hundreds of thousands of trade conversations that happen between teams throughout the season and especially as the end of July rolls around. If the Twins weren’t talking to every team about ways to improve their team, that would be extremely disappointing.

Inspired by the 3 game opening series sweep of the Kansas City Royals, my plan was to kick this thing off with a history of sweeping. My initial google search led me to a Washington Post article, “Roots is a sweeping history,” and that was not the direction I planned on heading. I continued to search but it became obvious that no one knows when sweeping started. There is a mention of the act of sweeping in the bible so I assume it has been around awhile. I decided to give up trying to sound like I knew something about such things. I rarely use a broom… I’m not even sure how you plug them in… and I’m a Twins Fan so it’s not like I’m getting a lot of sweeping experience that way either.

Here are some things to think about:

World Series teams are not constructed during the off season. It's a process that continues as the season goes along. Baseball teams are always under construction and the Twins are already making repairs. Don't expect to drive around without detours and orange cones for awhile.

For example... repairs to Sano in RF were already baked into the process.

And the Twins should not have introduced those red jerseys. The new ones should have been yellow with reflective material.

Here are some things to think about:

At 3:00 central time today, the annual non-waivers trade deadline will pass. The Twins already made one move. Thursday night, they traded Eduardo Nunez to the San Francisco Giants for Adalberto Mejia. Will they be able to reach any more trade agreements today?

These are the days that test who you are as a Minnesota Twins Fan. Rough Start... Expectations not being met... and a small sample size. Do you start throwing babies out with the bath water or do you just keep washing this baby.

All I know is that many of you have got the baby by both ankles and are looking for a place to dispose of it.

I'm saying not yet because that's what Molly Ringwald would have done.

It was Tampa over the weekend and it's Miami tonight as the state of Minnesota gets visited by the state of Florida.

This is unique because typically it is Minnesotans who snowbird their way to Florida for warmer climes. Floridians don’t come to Minnesota unless they are kidnapped, bound, gagged and stuffed into a trunk of a car traveling to Minnesota. The kidnapped, bound, gagged and stuffed into a trunk of a car part is a regular occurrence in Florida but the car actually traveling to Minnesota is something that just doesn’t usually happen.

The 2016 Minnesota Twins are lot like Florida… surrounded by alligators with sharp teeth and strong jaws that clamp on and do that spin thing that they do.

Let’s watch them spin 'round and 'round while thinking about some Things to Think About: