Youth powers Twins, Yankees into playoffs
NEW YORK — Minnesota first baseman Joe Mauer remembers well all those October losses to the Yankees. So too, surely, do the Twins’ fans.
Around the rest of the Twins’ clubhouse, though, it might as well be ancient history.
In the playoffs for the first time in seven years, Mauer and Minnesota will face New York in the AL wild-card game Tuesday night, hoping to turn around what has been a onesided postseason rivalry.
New York eliminated the Twins in the Division Series four times from 2003 through ’10, repeatedly dashing the World Series aspirations of a largely homegrown lineup.
“Somebody asked me earlier, ‘Does it feel like seven years?’ ” Mauer said. “I said, ‘Yes, and all of that.’ ”
Mauer is the only holdover from that era. Minnesota has a new batch of budding young stars, and it’s a group that already has wrecked some history. Powered by Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton, these Twins became the first team ever to go from 100 losses one year to the playoffs the next.
“I’m really excited for this group to experience this,” Mauer said. “There are a lot of guys in our clubhouse that this is their first go-round. I was just real happy. It’s been a special year to see these guys kind of grow.”
This time, Minnesota won’t be running into playoff-proven Yankees such as Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera.
Like the Twins, New York has been fueled by its burgeoning big-leaguers. AL MVP candidate Aaron Judge headlines the crew, which also includes Tuesday’s starter, Luis Severino, and catcher Gary Sanchez. Only Brett Gardner, Greg Bird, Didi Gregorius and Chase Headley started for New York in its previous wild-card appearance, a 3-0 loss to Dallas Keuchel and the Astros in 2015.
“The faces have changed so much,” said Yankees manager Joe Girardi, who managed New York past Minnesota in the 2009 and 2010 ALDS.
Judge, who’s 6-foot-7, set a rookie record with 52 homers this year and has become the new face of the franchise. He even has his cheering section at Yankee Stadium: the Judge’s Chambers in right field, which will host a group of Bronx school kids Tuesday.
Limiting Judge might be the most pivotal task for Minnesota starter Ervin Santana.
“Have to be careful with him,” Santana said. “Don’t try to leave any cookies right there.”
As of Monday afternoon, Minnesota manager Paul Molitor hadn’t decided on Sano’s status for the game, although he was optimistic Sano would play. The third baseman has been recovering from a stress reaction in his left shin.
Sano missed 38 games before returning to action Friday, and then he was pinch hit for Sunday after feeling some discomfort in the leg.
Molitor thinks Sano will be available at least off the bench.
“Whether he’s going to start or not, I still haven’t inked it in yet,” Molitor said.
Severino, 23, starts the wildcard game for the Yankees after going 14-6 with a 2.98 ERA in a breakout regular season. He averaged 97.6 mph on his fastball — tops among qualified starters by nearly 2 mph — and combined it with a powerful slider and improved changeup.
Molitor, a member of the 3,000-hit club as a player, said he’d suggest that his hitters do more guessing at the plate than usual to deal with Severino’s overpowering stuff.
“I don’t think that you go up there trying to hit all three of his pitches because that’s usually not a good mix,” Molitor said. “A guy that was comparable for me in his prime was Pedro (Martinez). I couldn’t hit all three pitches. I just had to try to own something.”
Minnesota faced Severino two weeks ago, chasing the right-hander after three runs in three innings. Severino labored through a 46-pitch third inning, including a 13-pitch at-bat against Mauer that ended in an RBI single. It was the longest at-bat of the 2009 AL MVP’s career.