I’m more of a fact guy than a feel guy. When they tell you you’re gonna play, you play.
— Twins manager Paul Molitor after Game 1 of Thursday’s doubleheader against Colorado
The doubleheaders are piling up for the Minnesota Twins. They played a split doubleheader against the Colorado Rockies on Thursday, and a straight doubleheader against the Kansas City Royals on Sunday. They already have three more scheduled: June 17 vs. the Cleveland Indians, July 1 at Kansas City and on August 21 at the Chicago White Sox.
“It’s been challenging, there’s no doubt about that,” said manager Paul Molitor before the Kansas City doubleheader. “There’s always that risk, especially when you’re in a more northern climate.”
Northern climate? Unlike other years when there might be some snow in April, this year it is torrential rain that has kept the local nine from playing. The snow games can be kind of fun: They are unique to Minnesota and because most players come from the Sun Belt (California, Florida, Texas and Georgia) or the Dominican, it looked like a contest between multiple players that either were gearing up to go skiing or pretending to be Scorpion from Mortal Kombat.
This year it’s as though Minnesota has become Seattle. Only the Mariners have a stadium with a retractable roof.
The last time the Twins had played a traditional doubleheader was on May 26, 2001 against the Oakland Athletics
A split doubleheader means that the team plays two games separated by a couple of hours. On Thursday, for instance, the first game started at 12:10 pm and the second game began at 6:10 pm. A straight, or traditional, doubleheader means the second game starts 30 minutes after the first one. That’s how the one on Sunday was played, the first doubleheader of that variety in Target Field history. The last time the Twins had played a traditional doubleheader was on May 26, 2001 against the Oakland Athletics.
A group of Twins players made that determination on Saturday due to a collectively bargained MLB limit of three day-night doubleheaders per season without player approval. The entire team was in the locker room that day, but many of them didn’t dress in Twins attire because they were certain the game was not going to be played. Players arrived as early as 9:30 am, and the game was not called until two hours later — less than two hours before the 1:10 pm game was supposed to be played.
The doubleheaders are frustrating for fans and players alike. Fans show up thinking they’re going to a game, only to be sent home and given the option to go to the rescheduled contest or exchange their tickets for a future game pending availability (for more information, here is the Target Field policy). And players are very routine-oriented, so they don’t love game delays or cancellations, and endure additional wear and tear when they have to play 18 innings, or more, in one day.
“You just have to adapt the best that you can,” said Molitor over the weekend. “It’s not time for self-pity or any of those types of things, it’s just finding a way to use your whole roster to try to spread out the workload, and get your players in the right frame of mind to go out there and try to understand you have a chance to compete today twice, and hopefully you find a way to have a productive day.”
In a way, however, the Biblical climate helped the Twins out early in the season
In a way, however, the Biblical climate helped the Twins out early in the season. Minnesota was basically operating with four pitchers — Ervin Santana, Hector Santiago, Phil Hughes and Kyle Gibson — especially after 23 –year –old Adalberto Mejia had to be sent down. Gibson, 29, was also sent to Triple-A after a rough start to the season, and now Hughes has been placed on the 10-day disabled list with shoulder soreness. Jose Berrios’ hot start should mitigate some of these issues, and Mejia has been recalled and went seven innings in his last outing, but Santana and Santiago are coming back to earth and Gibson’s first start since being recalled was not encouraging. I explored the Twins pitching in my latest feature, and not much has changed since then, but basically the rain has bailed this team out a bit early in the season.
That of course will change once the team has to make up all these games. As the Star Tribune’s Michael Rand pointed out before the Rockies doubleheader, the Twins played just 35 games in 45 days. Starting with Thursday’s contests against Colorado, Minnesota is scheduled to play 53 games in 53 days.
“For the starters, it puts pressure on them to work deeper into games. And while rainouts and off days so far allowed the Twins to sometimes avoid using underachieving or untested pitchers, now they will have situations where they need fill-in starters because doubleheaders throw off the normal schedule for days of rest,” wrote Rand.
“And if starters falter — or merely can’t work deep into games — relievers will wear down and/or less-than-optimal options will be called upon in key situations.”
In addition to creating additional stress on players’ bodies, and eating into attendance figures since most people either cannot or are unwilling to sit around for 18 innings of baseball, the cancelled games that cause the doubleheaders can keep a team from getting on a roll or capitalizing off of a momentous win.
“Would it have been nice to come back yesterday and play after that come from behind win? Sure”
On Friday the Twins had a come from behind victory over the Royals where Kennys Vargas tied the game with a pinch-hit home run in the ninth inning. Because Saturday’s game was cancelled, two days passed before another game was played. Had they been able to play on Saturday, it would have been a day-night combination, so the good feelings of the dramatic win would still be fresh.
“In the last two-plus years here we’ve talked about momentum quite a bit, and it’s not a tangible thing, so you’re never sure quite how it’s gonna play out. Would it have been nice to come back yesterday and play after that come from behind win? Sure, it would have,” said Molitor.
“You just hope the players have a good feel about how we’re competing. We’re winning games in different fashions — losing them too — but the starting pitcher, a key hit off the bench, baserunning, defense, it gives you a chance every day to go out there and try to find a way to win.”
It is up to Molitor to keep that feeling going in what is shaping up to be both a surprisingly successful year for the Twins, especially coming off an 103-loss season, but also one that has been very discombobulated. While some of his managing decisions have been questioned, and at times are questionable, his calm, matter of fact approach to managing has allowed the team to weather the storm, literally, so far this year.
Minnesota has no control over the weather. They can’t go back to the Metrodome or play at US Bank Stadium. If it’s sunny, they’ll play; if it rains, they won’t. Either way, they’ll be expected to win because many of their prospects are with the major league team now and the AL Central looks very winnable this year.
Fair or unfair, Molitor appears to accept that reality. Just ask him, he’s more of a fact than a feel guy anyways.
