The Minnesota Twins have a daunting task ahead of them beginning Tuesday. They must end the longest playoff losing streak in North American sports.
However, there are many unknowns for the Twins going into the series. They won’t know who they’ll play until 48 hours before the first pitch. Their only certainties for the series are who will pitch Games 1 and 2, Pablo López and Sonny Gray.
The bats on the roster and the bullpen. The start time and how their opponent will match their lineups and rotations against them. It’s all a mystery. And maybe it’s for the better the team and the fans will have to wait for answers in the short term.
No good can come from having too much time to overthink every matchup and outcome. There are still three teams they could possibly play in the best-of-three Wild Card Series: the Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners, and Houston Astros.
The Texas Rangers remained in that mix until the Mariners swept them at home in their three-game sweep a week ago. Even if Seattle sweeps them to end the year, they have the season series over the Mariners, winning eight of their 13 games.
Houston is the team that the Twins and their fans want to face the least. The defending World Series champs will be fighting for their postseason against the Arizona Diamondbacks on the road this weekend. If they lose two out of the three and the Mariners win two out of three, they’ll miss the postseason for the first time since 2016.
Many fans across the majors will be rooting for the American League juggernaut’s downfall, Twins fans included. If the Astros punch their postseason ticket, they will likely find a way to continue their streak to appear in their seventh straight American League Championship Series.
Even in their 29-31 shortened 2020 season, the Astros killed Minnesota’s postseason win hopes and made it back to the ALCS. With Justin Verlander back in their rotation and Framber Valdez, Games 1 and 2’s matchups could be frightening.
And that’s without mentioning the best lineup of any team this postseason based on experience. The core of their lineup, Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Yordan Alvarez, and Kyle Tucker, have a combined 1,188 plate appearances in postseason games. Alvarez and Tucker have maintained their positions as the top two left-handed hitters in the American League. Both players are likely to end the season with 30-plus homers and 100 runs batted in.
Minnesota won the season series against the Astros, and Houston may not be as competitive as last year. But they’re still the defending champs. They will give the Twins their longest odds of ending their postseason losing streak.
The Blue Jays and the Mariners do not offer the same hurdles of pessimism.
Toronto’s lineup has cooled off from what it was when these two teams faced off at Target Field on Memorial Day weekend. They are also the least likely of the three teams to face Minnesota. The most likely way that happens is if the Tampa Bay Rays sweep the Jays at home to end the year.
If Tampa sweeps Toronto and the Jays end up at Target Field on Tuesday, the Twins will face many right-handed pitchers. The Blue Jays are unlikely to start lefty and notable 14-hour sleeper Yuesi Kikuchi in a three-game series. That leaves him, Tim Mayza, who has a 307 ERA+ this season, and Genesis Cabrera as the three lefties in their bullpen.
The Twins will still be carrying a plethora of left-handed bats, especially with the questionable availability surrounding three key right-handed hitters Royce Lewis, Byron Buxton, and Carlos Correa. Minnesota’s roster construction should give them a discernable advantage in a potential Blue Jays series.
Minnesota matches up best against the Mariners. Like the Twins, Seattle had a similar start to their season. They had great outings from their starting pitching but a cold lineup that often came up short in close games.
Seattle was only a game above .500 at the All-Star Break and had the third-best record in the American League in the second half behind Minnesota and the Baltimore Orioles. The Mariners and Twins battled back and forth during their matchups this season. Playing against each other in the Wild Card series could provide the most electric atmosphere of any opponent.
Until the dust settles from the weekend, Twins fans shouldn’t dwell too much on questionable matchups, hypotheticals, and whether the biggest bats will return in time to get that much-needed win. The Twins can take it easy in Colorado to finish out the season against the National League’s worst team while all their potential opponents are fighting for their postseason lives.
There’s some comfort in the unknown and not having to overthink for too long as a fan before the Twins set out to end that dreadful losing streak.
