Twins

For the last three years, the Murphy family has tried to answer a single question: how can we help get Tony Oliva in the Hall of Fame?

No one asked them to answer that question. Not the Twins. Not Tony himself. They weren't deputized or drafted. They chose to do it themselves, coming together in a kitchen to found Vote Tony O to find out, "how can we help get Tony Oliva in the Hall of Fame?"

Ideally the Twins will aim toward the top end of starting pitching free agency this offseason. History tells us they won't.

Luckily, this year's market features strong depth in terms of mid-rotation starters with upside to be more. Today we'll look at 15 free agent options in that range.

As the Minnesota Twins fall to 53-91, the NFL season, college football, high school sports and activities have crept into view of many baseball fans. However, with 18 more games to play in the 2016 season, there are still reasons to keep watching the Twins day in and day out… or at least a reasonable amount of your viewing time. Today, I’m going to see if I can come up with 18 reasons to watch the final 18 Twins games.

In 1961, Minnesota joined the ranks of Major League Baseball and the National Football League. It might be hard to believe today, but before that there were no Twins and Vikings in the state history, unless you buy the story of the Rune Stone in Alexandria and those Vikings might have tossed rocks, but not footballs. There has never been another year like this in Minnesota sports history and happily I can say I was there – both as a high school sophomore at Central High School in Minneapolis and as an usher in Met Stadium.

The Minnesota Twins, 101 wins, and the 2019 season will be one that many of us will tell stories about to our children, grandchildren, and maybe even great grand-children if we are lucky or young enough. We will tell them about Bombas and Nelson Cruz naps. There may also be some sour-faced remarks about the New York Yankees.

Too often injuries to star players leave us asking "What could have been?" In 1965 the Minnesota Twins saw two such injuries to Harmon Killebrew and Camilo Pascual.

The nickname “Wrench” -- short for “Mr Goodwrench” -- came from Kent Hrbek.

Hrbek said that Dan Gladden looked like he finished performing an oil change on a car. “He reminds you of a guy who took four auto-shop classes in high school,” Hrbek explained to Sports Illustrated’s Austin Murphy. ''Dan could strike out four times and somehow get dirty. The guy is a piece of work.''

“Wrench” was the perfect description for how Gladden played the game. With his speed, grit and hustle, it sometimes felt like he was hitting you with one.

“I’ve been reading about some people who have said that it’s a disgrace to have us representing the American League,” Gary Gaetti told reporters not long before the start of the 1987 World Series. “The way I figure it, we might as well go ahead and disgrace the whole game by winning it.”

Yes, while the Twins were heavy underdogs facing the powerful and experienced Tigers in the previous round, sentiments shifted as the battered and bruised Cardinals landed in town. For as much as they wanted to continue to play the role of the dark horse, suddenly people believed in the Twins’ chances. On display in the ALCS was power, pitching and solid decision-making by the rookie manager. More national media types were throwing their weight behind the team that had torn the stuffing out of Detroit in five games.

“What an unlikely bunch of champions we’re looking at here.”

Those were the words NBC’s Bob Costas offered overlooking the on-field scrum of Minnesota Twins players as they pushed from the initial contact point near first base and moved as a horde toward second base across the historic Tiger Stadium infield.

Costas’ assessment couldn’t have been more accurate. Most experts believed the Twins would be vastly outgunned by baseball’s winningest team in Detroit. The Tigers had the ability to score runs, they had the starting rotation depth, and they had the experience, having just won the World Series in 1984. Most believed the contest would last five games and end in the Tigers favor, not Twins.