The Twins and the Playoffs

Well, the Minnesota Twins are going to the playoffs for the second straight season and the third time in the last five years. It became official Tuesday night as the Twins beat the Cleveland Indians 6-4 and the second-place Chicago White Sox lost to the Oakland Athletics. Champagne was flowing across the state of Minnesota as the Twins celebrated their clinching of the division with several games left in the season.

I am extremely optimistic coming into this postseason. I said before in my first post about the Twins, and I will say it again: this truly looks like a team of destiny. The team, which has been without superstar first basemen Justin Morneau since early July, has ridden on the shoulders of Joe Mauer, Jim Thome and Carl Pavano all season and appears to really have no weakness. Even without Morneau's power in the lineup, there has been enough run production and hits in vital moments to allow pitchers such as Pavano, Francisco Liriano and staff newcomer Brian Duensing eat innings and win games. And let's not forget about closer Matt Capps, who has been stellar since his midseason arrival. The hitting has been clutch, and the pitching has been on nothing short of lockdown. Most important of all, Ron Gardenhire should be in the running for Manager of Year has been the (mostly) cool and composed captain of the baseball club.

Like most postseasons the Twins are involved in, the New York Yankees look to be the biggest threat any success Minnesota will have. The Twins have been knocked out of the playoffs by the Yanks three times in since 2003, and they have won a total of two games in those series. New York has a superb, veteran pitching staff and a lineup filled with perennial All-Stars such as Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira. As good as the Twins have been this season, I still have a bad, bad feeling if the Yankees end up being the team Minnesota has to face in the first round. They have been the kryptonite to our own Superman, leaving him exhausted, beaten and on his knees, leaving him wondering what happened when it seemed like nothing to could stop him before. However, there are still two other teams the Twins could face in the postseason as well, these being the Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers, and they too look to be worthy adversaries. Both teams have young and extremely talented pitching staffs with potent bats to support them, even though Texas currently happens to be without outfielder and MVP candidate Josh Hamilton at the moment. The Twins enjoyed moderate success against the Rangers this season and were a little under .500 against the Rays. Although these are very skilled teams, I have confidence the Twins can out-pitch them, especially if they keep their foot on the gas for the duration of the regular season. To conclude, the Twins should still be afraid of facing New York the most and have no reason to coast into October.

While I do believe this team will do big things this year, they still need to remain focused and stay prepared. It seemed like all the excitement at the end of the 2009 season sapped Minnesota of it's energy, which lead to the Twins being swept in four games off the bat. With over a week left to work out any kinks and problems, there is no simply excuse for such a showing this time around.