Twins Video
After four straight 90-loss campaigns, the Twins posted a winning record this year while ushering several of their top prospects into the mix – as key contributors, even – and have set themselves up to be a top dog in the AL Central once again.
Nothing is guaranteed going forward, but for all intents and purposes, the rebuilding process is over. This team is now in contention mode.
That's something that we haven't really experienced during the life of Twins Daily. This site launched in March of 2012, heading into the second of four consecutive non-competitive seasons. This year marked the first time we've been able to cover and discuss meaningful baseball into the late summer and early autumn.
With how passionate and knowledgeable the community here had proven to be over the first three years of the site's existence, the Twins Daily crew often speculated about how fun this place would be when the team returned to contending, as they did for most of the decade preceding 2012.
You all delivered.
More than 80,000 unique visitors stopped by Twins Daily in the month of September – twice as many as the same period last year. It was evident from the activeness and fervor of our commenters and message board contributors that life was being pumped back into a fan base that had understandably gone comatose to some extent.
I was struck, in particular, by this tweet that ESPN senior baseball writer Keith Law sent to the @TwinsDaily Twitter account a couple of weeks ago:
https://twitter.com/keithlaw/status/647541408983814144
Law is a guy who has ventured into plenty of comment sections and encountered plenty of trolling, so that compliment means a lot coming from him. And it encapsulates a facet of this site that makes me love it.
So often, internet comment sections are cesspools of humanity, where people use the mask of anonymity to insult, degrade and provide little in the way of useful input. That has never been the case here and Law is hardly the first to marvel about it. Even my dad has remarked multiple times about how much more he gets out of reading my articles when he reads the added insights within the comments.
My dad! I didn't even know my dad knew what a comment section was!
This environment is made possible by a few things. First and foremost, we have a tireless group of moderators who charitably volunteer to keep things in line. Second, we are lucky enough to attract a readership that – for the most part – knows its stuff and engages in smart, entertaining banter rather than flame wars and idiocy.
And third, we have a ton of great content that invites thoughtful feedback and ignites lively conversations. Only a fraction of that content comes from Parker, John, Seth and myself. That was always the goal.
So, we'd all like to say THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts to everyone who visited, published, assisted and interacted on the site this year. You helped to make a fun season all the more enjoyable and immersive, and you continue to make this little experiment a success.
But we're not done yet.
Although the Twins are finished playing in 2015, the show will go on here at Twins Daily. This week we'll take some retrospective looks at the season that was, and soon we'll begin our offseason coverage as the front office prepares to navigate a very important winter.
Plenty of articles on the site will explore the coming months from every angle, and of course when the postseason comes to a close, you'll be able to grab our annual release of the Offseason Handbook, an ebook that covers the offseason landscape with unparalleled depth.
If you haven't yet, we strongly encourage you to register for an account and join in on the awesome conversations that are sure to take place regarding free agency, trades, roster decisions and more. Take the opportunity to write your first blog. And as always, if there's something you think we could be doing better, don't hesitate to let us know.
What a ride. And it's only just beginning.
MORE FROM TWINS DAILY
— Latest Twins coverage from our writers
— Recent Twins discussion in our forums
— Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email
— Become a Twins Daily Caretaker
Recommended Comments
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.