The Minnesota Twins were 86-61, 2 games behind the AL Central leading Detroit Tigers.
Retrosheet.org shows you.
Coincidentally, the Twins played the Cleveland Indians on September 15th, 2006, and lost 4-3.
What does this mean? Well, the Twins (82-67) currently sit 1.5 games behind the AL Central leading Chicago White Sox (83-65), including 2 back in the ever-so important loss column. Since they're a half game better in 2008 than they were in 2006, this bodes well for the Twins postseason chances, right?
Right!?!?!?
On another note, the 2007 Philadelphia Phillies were 4.5 games behind the New York Mets in the NL East...and we all know how that division race turned out.
I guess what I'm trying to get at, and for those that know me, you know I'm not the most optimistic person in the world, is that anything can happen...anything. Let's just hope that anything involves the Twins playing October baseball in 2008.
I know that It is all going to come down to the ChiSox series at home. I find this mostly unsettling, though at the same time, I am much happier that those games are going to be played in the Metrodome than in Chicago.
The key to personal sanity this time of year is not to get ahead of yourself looking at the upcoming schedule. Just take it one day at a time and remember that one loss doesn't spell doom and one victory doesn't guarantee a title. The Twins could be in first place after tomorrow.
With two weeks left, anything can happen, including the Twins winning out and running away with the division. Is it likely? No. But the Rockies last year on this date began a stretch of 14 wins in 15 games, which included a one-game playoff for the wild card berth. The Rockies were 76-72 before they suddenly got hot and ended up going all the way to the World Series. So, anything can happen.
I'm taking a Zen approach to the rest of the season.
It seems to me that the Twins and White Sox are just competing to see who gets to fall backwards into the opportunity to get crushed in the playoffs. None of this really matters. There's my Zen thought.
ZOMG! It's a frightwig sighting complete with a complementary avatar to my own! :)
frightwig is livin' (at) large in the Paul Pierce Era. Is it good for you, too?!
It's all good.
The Oregon Ghost makes a salient point. Unless one of these Central teams reverses course, it's all gonna end in tears--early.
Que sera, sera. What ever will be will be
the future's not ours to see.
Que sera, sera. What will be, will be.
Thus endeth my discourse on Calvinism for the day.
The Man Who Knew Too Much. Or thought he did.
(Sorry about that, doc. Must have a Hitch in my swing.)
You really are slipping, E-6. You forgot to edit in the music bed.
You may also enjoy this Tim Burton-esque animation piece employing the same (albeit longer) tuneage.
Well, the winner of the Central is getting the winner of the East. If Tampa Bay holds on, that might be an interesting opponent. Not too interested in a five gamer with the Red Sox, though.
I tend to disagree. The playoffs are a SSS crapshoot. To me, grinding out the marathon of the regular season and winning the division is a worthwhile prize in itself and if we can pull that off I'd feel a lot of satisfaction, first round playoff thrashing be damned. Especially for a team picked by pundits to finish in fourth place.
This is also the five-year anniversary of the first game of the three-game home series with the White Sox. Twins started the series half game up and swept the series to go up 3 1/2 games. Twins went on to finish their final homestand of the year at 8-0. The Sox went home and immediately lost 2 of 3 to the Royals (who did finish over .500 that year for the only time this decade, but were still pretty bad in the second half) to put them 5 1/2 games back with seven to play.
If the Twins just stay within 2 1/2 games of Chicago through this road trip, they will control their own destiny (in other words, if the Twins win their remaining games, they will win the division).
And in 2006 we had a broken rotation with no Liriano, one-armed Radke, Bonser and Santana.
The Twins are just a short hot-streak away from the playoffs. The finish line is in sight, and I think the Twins still have some good baseball left in them.
Remember also that Chicago is missing Quentin and Konerko.
I'm very excited that next week's games are likely going to mean this division. Especially since both teams couldn't overtake Boston. I really wanted a Twins/White Sox ALCS, but since that's not going to happen, this is the closest we're gonna get. I need to check the local stations down here to make sure they're showing the Sox games and not the Cubs. Also, I think ESPN needs to show this game on Wed. Maybe even cut in on Tues and Thurs.
Every day brings new hope, and the Twins have not been down by more than 2.5 games since July. These next two weeks are going to be killer!
Ozzie, joking or not, thinks the "piranhas" are about done...
The Twins just need to begin winning baseball games again...if they do that, you never know what can and will happen.
If I were a Sox fan, I would be feeling like Vikings fans watching them kick five field goals. You've got the lead but you know it should be more and you know that the opponent is going to rally.
Sure, except I don't know if the Twins have Peyton Manning.
Well, Mauer could have been a D-I quarterback if he wanted to and Morneau is a former MVP.