The Twins went 15-15 in September/October, which allowed them to avoid a 90-loss season: after winning the last game of the year, on Sunday, against the Royals, they stood at 73-89, last place in the AL Central, the weakest division in the league. They needed a mini hot streak to land that well, for they did not lose any of their last four series of the year: swept a two-game series at Wrigley against the Cubs, then came home and split four games with the Blue Jays (who were fighting for a playoff spot), won two out of three from the Tigers, and then travelled to Kansas City, where they won two of three games on the last weekend of the season.
I always find something to interest me, even in the last month of a losing season—often, the struggles or successes of some call-up who's excited to be getting a chance. Maybe the guy rolls one through the infield for a single and the TV shows his familial entourage going nuts in the sparsely populated stadium. This year, however, Jorge Polanco had my eye: on September 11, he hit two homers, his 29th and 30th of the season, and had 3 RBI, numbers 88, 89, and 90. Could he attain a 30-homer, 100-RBI season? Here are a few names from Twins history who never accomplished that feat: Tony Oliva, Kent Hrbek, Kirby Puckett. Polanco, however, went into a little RBI slump and I'd pretty much given up when he only had 95 entering the last game of the season. Then, in his first at-bat, he launched one with two aboard: 98, which is where he finished. I don't think he got another at-bat with a runner on base.
Speaking of 30-homer seasons, Miguel Sano did it for the second time: 30 this year, 34 in 2019. Here is a comprehensive list of Minnesota Twins who have had more 30-homer seasons than Sano:
Harmon Killebrew (8)
Justin Morneau (3)
I'm as frustrated with him as anyone—he strikes out way too much, makes a butt-load of errors, and, notwithstanding all the dingers, has never driven in as many as 80 runs in a season. But can you give up on the guy? I feel he's a whisker away from a year in which he bats .260 with 40 homers and 120 RBI. Pipe dream? Well, here's another possibly unrealistic hope: Buxton plays in 150 games and has more than 600 plate appearances. Or how about Max Kepler rebounding?—he batted .211 and had 54 RBI, possibly the most feeble output of any everyday right fielder in the game. Can Garver stay healthy enough to bat 400 times? Because, if he does, he might hit 30 over the fence and another 30 that bounce against it.
All fun to daydream about, but if none of those things happened, the team could still go from 89 losses to 89 wins with some steady starting pitching. In the American League, only the Orioles, who lost 110 times, allowed more runs than the Twins—and our relief pitching was more than serviceable. I don't know what their plans are but I'm confident that Bailey Ober, Griffin Jax, and three days of wet weather is never going to be a motto along the lines of "Spahn, Sain, then pray for rain."
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