Around the AL Central (5/19): Minnesota Pacing the Pack

Call me your typical Minnesotan waiting for the other foot to drop but it feels like once the Twins hit June and face the teams in the east the White Sox and Indians will likely make up some ground.  There are lot's of good statistical signs pointing to the Twins being a good team on both sides of the ball but I just have this bad feeling things will fall apart.

Honestly I am Surprised and happy the Twins are in first place and I have enjoyed the ups and downs of the season so far.  It is nice that the games still matter and my team is in it.  I should be happy and yet that feeling that this won't last remains.

13 minutes ago, Dman said:

Call me your typical Minnesotan waiting the other foot to drop but it feels like once the Twins hit June and face the teams in the east the White Sox and Indians will likely make up some ground.  There are lot's of good statistical signs pointing to the the Twins being a good team on both sides of the ball but I just have this bad feeling things will fall apart.

Honestly I am Surprised and happy the Twins are in first place and I have enjoyed the ups and downs of the season so far.  It is nice that the games still matter and my team is in it.  I should be happy and yet that feeling that this won't last remains.

I know what you're saying. I actually think the Twins can sustain this in the regular season, but it's hard to get excited when they seem destined to flounder in the playoffs again. This lineup really struggles against high-end starters, and I just don't see our starters maintaining their form in the pressure of the postseason.

But they are exceeding my expectations, so I'm trying to just enjoy the ride as well.

I just want to see the ailing pitchers get healthy, the healthy pitchers start pitching deeper into games, and take 2 out of 3 in each series. Easy enough?

1 hour ago, Dman said:

Call me your typical Minnesotan waiting for the other foot to drop but it feels like once the Twins hit June and face the teams in the east the White Sox and Indians will likely make up some ground.  There are lot's of good statistical signs pointing to the Twins being a good team on both sides of the ball but I just have this bad feeling things will fall apart.

Honestly I am Surprised and happy the Twins are in first place and I have enjoyed the ups and downs of the season so far.  It is nice that the games still matter and my team is in it.  I should be happy and yet that feeling that this won't last remains.

45 minutes ago, TopTwins said:

I know what you're saying. I actually think the Twins can sustain this in the regular season, but it's hard to get excited when they seem destined to flounder in the playoffs again. This lineup really struggles against high-end starters, and I just don't see our starters maintaining their form in the pressure of the postseason.

But they are exceeding my expectations, so I'm trying to just enjoy the ride as well.

I can understand your viewpoints and even appreciate the sentiment.  Is it possible the wheels come off and the Mystery Mobile bursts into the expected Viking funeral pyre, taking Shaggy, Scoobes and the rest of Mystery Inc. to the place where hopes and dreams go to die... of course. 

It's baseball, these things happen.

But in the end... this team is good.  Good enough to win it all? I honestly don't know, but sure I hope so .

1 hour ago, Dman said:

Call me your typical Minnesotan waiting the other foot to drop but it feels like once the Twins hit June and face the teams in the east the White Sox and Indians will likely make up some ground.  There are lot's of good statistical signs pointing to the the Twins being a good team on both sides of the ball but I just have this bad feeling things will fall apart.

Honestly I am Surprised and happy the Twins are in first place and I have enjoyed the ups and downs of the season so far.  It is nice that the games still matter and my team is in it.  I should be happy and yet that feeling that this won't last remains.

I feel June will tell us a lot about this team and if we are just an upper middle class team that will fade a bit or not.  It is still hard to judge this team because we have pitched well, but not facing top offensive teams, so is it a product of who we are facing.  We did hold Cleveland down who was one of the better offenses the first month though. 

However, our offense has not been clicking and dealing with injuries and slow starts I do have some optimism they will start to hit more when people get healthy and heated up.  The main issue has been hitting with runners on base. 

It looks like the team may be heating up some on offense.  Eventually the starting pitching will start to have some bumps and the pen will have some rough runs too.  We just need to have the offense going when some of that happens.  

I have been a surprised and happy fan to date, but always have in the back of my mind our competition and like other posts I see June being the month that we finally take the major league exam and I do not know what to expect.  We do not have a shut down Ace, a shut down closer, or a consistent SP rotation.  

I want us to keep beating up the weak teams, but honestly, the Central division is so weak I cannot imagine how other teams in other divisions see us.  

Keep winning the games you are "supposed" to win and win those series against those same teams. June will be here soon enough as an adequate test. It'd be nice to have built a cushion when the schedule gets tougher. This team might be legit. 

The Twins have shown thus far that they are a team that could easily win this division.  The White Sox have had some bad luck so are probably better than what their record and stats indicate.  The rest of the division is about where I would have expected.  The question is how do the Twins matchup with some of the better teams in the AL? 

As the prototypical Minnesotan and having followed the Twins since 1961, I understand the feeling of doom.  Even in 1987, when the 9th inning started I just had a feeling that the Braves would win.   And when Gaetti made his throw to 1st I figured it would sail into the stands and give the Braves another chance.  Even after the final out, I waited to see if anyone had called timeout and the previous pitch wouldn't count.  And in 1991, it was deja vu all over again.

Sounds like so many are happy how the season is going but expecting the worst to happen.  I have beating this drum since putting eyes on this team in Florida....get on board!  This team is

1. Exciting

2. Really Good

3. A true contender

This is just my opinion...and many can say I told you so if I am wrong.  However...this is the best team and opportunity in awhile.  Let's get excited!!  Let's turn these pessimistic out looks to true hope and optimistic views.  We have a very good young team with veteran leadership.  Trust me on this.

I am happy to have a team that's entertaining and that has an exciting future.  I have no delusions about this team being a top contender.  The Yankees and Astros are a different level and the Rays / Angels are also better teams.  I am not really sure what to expect from the White Sox and Blue Jays who both have more talent but are playing poorly.

The really good news is there is reason to hope they kick it up a notch.  Correa was just starting to square it up consistently.  Sanchez has been a beast this past 6 games.  He is batting .348 with a .423 OBP and slugging .913.  Larnach will be back soon and he seemed to be waaaay better against the breaking stuff that had been a struggle.  Kepler has been contributing and of course Buxton is a beast.  It sure would be fun if it all comes together and this stretch of games against weaker opponents is a great chance to get on a serious roll.  

6 hours ago, theBOMisthebomb said:

Keep winning the games you are "supposed" to win and win those series against those same teams. June will be here soon enough as an adequate test. It'd be nice to have built a cushion when the schedule gets tougher. This team might be legit. 

The next 15 games will be the challenge, each one of these games should be winnable. If they can go 10-5 or 11-4 that will be a huge boost going into early June. If they can distance themselves a little bit going into the series against the AL east that will be another big boost. And hopefully the White Sox will keep losing ?

Count me as a fan worried about the upcoming schedule.  The White Sox are playing a very tough schedule right now.  Yes we need to win most of the games the rest of this month to build up a cushion for the tough teams.  But they are still in first place albeit in a very weak division.  Credit them for beating their lesser opponents.  If they lose these so-called easier games we would be all over them.  Me included.  I'd love to see them add a few games to their lead before June.  Go Twins!!!

Hit them when there down ...

GO TWINS 

Maybe I'm not a typicle Twins fan but I'm very excited about this team. With this easy schedule, it'll give offense plenty of opportunities to really break out and gain momentum to carry though the season. It'll also give our pitchers opportunity to arrive at 100% and then they'll be awsome.

My only concern is managerial. My hope is Baldelli get out of the mindset of over using  the short relief corp. Therefore blowing up both short relif & rotation.

On 5/20/2022 at 2:41 PM, mikelink45 said:

I want us to keep beating up the weak teams, but honestly, the Central division is so weak I cannot imagine how other teams in other divisions see us.  

Interesting note about that second part...

Nick Sandlin's brother (the Cleveland relief pitcher) was my son's varsity assistant coach the last two years.  According to Nick via his brother Jake, there is a lot of respect for what the Twins have done and how they are playing.

On 5/20/2022 at 4:28 PM, terrydactyls said:

As the prototypical Minnesotan and having followed the Twins since 1961, I understand the feeling of doom.  Even in 1987, when the 9th inning started I just had a feeling that the Braves would win.   And when Gaetti made his throw to 1st I figured it would sail into the stands and give the Braves another chance.  Even after the final out, I waited to see if anyone had called timeout and the previous pitch wouldn't count.  And in 1991, it was deja vu all over again.

Totally understand  

But 1987 was the Cardinals

1991 was the Braves