USA TODAY International Edition
Twins bashing way into playoffs
By reputation, the Twins know exactly where they’ll fold into the American League’s playoff pecking order.
They will be the clear No. 3 in their field – according to their record, to Las Vegas, to overwhelming public perception. They will be branded one- dimensional, thanks in large part to a team- wide, record- setting home run barrage in this season of the long ball and a dearth of proven playoff aces on the mound.
Yet they will also be confident a path to October glory exists and are secure in their legitimacy, already at 92 wins through 150 games, just a few ticks behind the 98- win Yankees and Astros. If that.
“Both of those teams, whether it’s the markets or the media, feels like they have their areas where they’re better than us or whatever they want to say,” Twins pitcher Kyle Gibson tells USA TODAY Sports. “We probably have a better offense than both of those teams, and I think we have a chance to have a really deep pitching staff as well.”
Sure, fixate on the Twins’ shiniest object – their Bomba Squad, a group that in just 135 games obliterated MLB’s season team home run record. When Miguel Sano hits his 30th home run, he’ll join Nelson Cruz ( 37), Max Kepler ( 36), Eddie Rosario ( 31) and Mitch Garver ( 30) to form the first 30- homer quintet in major league history.
Accordingly, their 287 home runs are one more than the Yankees’ and their 867 runs scored wedge them between the Yankees ( 886) and Astros ( 863). They should clinch the AL Central by this weekend.
Power often slumbers in October, when rotations are pared and nearly every game surfaces a Verlander or a Cole, a Buehler or a Morton on the opposing mound. Anticipating a likely Division Series matchup, the Yankees dispatched three advance scouts to the Twins’ weekend series at Cleveland.
Aces and advance men both will try to poke holes in a machinelike Twins attack with a .832 OPS ( third behind, yes, the Astros and Yankees), a number that’s never dipped below .798 or above .874 in a given month this season.
“I wouldn’t trade our offense for any offense,” says first- year manager Rocco Baldelli. “We’ve been very, very solid and pretty consistent throughout the year. It’s an unusual style, and we don’t have the athleticism- type factor where you’re hitting and running and guys are flying around the bases.
“That’s not necessarily what we do. We go out and try to have good at- bats. We’ve hit some homers and scored a ton of runs, and I think that works for us.”
That’s a common theme for a club that might not have a top- 10 finisher in MVP or Cy Young balloting but will be a tricky out in October: Whatever works.
‘ Let’s do it’
If intellectual curiosity is now baseball’s sixth tool, consider these Twins well- equipped.
Ask Baldelli about pitching plans for upcoming games, and he’ll often note he needs to “check in with Wes” first. That would be Wes Johnson, the Twins’ pitching coach whose off-season hire straight from the collegiate ranks sent mild shock waves through the industry.
Now, 150 games into a relatively unprecedented leap from the University of Arkansas to the AL Central, it’s clear there’s an implicit trust among coach and manager, and coach and pitcher.
While the Twins’ power barrage has rightly commanded much attention, their ability to suppress home runs is perhaps more valuable. The Twins have given up just 187, or 1.2 per nine innings. Only the Rays ( 169, 1.1) rate more favorably in the AL, and likely playoff adversaries New York and Houston – while playing in admittedly hitter- friendlier ballparks – have given up 235 and 221 homers, respectively.
What makes the Twins’ mark so remarkable is that their pitchers rank exactly league average with 8.8 strikeouts per nine innings. In a juiced offensive environment, they are largely pitching to contact and getting away with it, which perhaps speaks to the precision Johnson has brought to the staff.
“You wouldn’t know this was his first year as a pro pitching coach at any level, let alone a big- league job,” says Twins starter Jake Odorizzi, who has cut his ERA from 4.49 in 2018 to 3.60 this year, just a tick behind staff ace Jose Berrios’ 3.58. “The time he took to get to know everybody and get people to buy into his thoughts and his system is pretty impressive. Maybe it was small ticks with some people. Maybe it was bigger changes with others.
“But everybody he’s helped this year has taken a step in the right direction of discovering something new about themselves, getting out of their quoteunquote norm. He’s not going to give you something that will make you unsuccessful.”
Johnson stands about 5- 8 on a good day, nearly a foot shorter than some of his pitchers. His energy, however, is immeasurable, a crucial trait in his rise from Dallas Baptist to the Southeastern Conference to the Twins, where his deep dives on his pitchers’ pitch usage began shortly after his November hiring.
“They’re evolved in their plan. Now they’re coming to me with stuff,” says Johnson. “Once you get them in there and get that learning environment rolling, man, it’s fun.”
Says Gibson: “We have a lot of guys throwing the ball well because we have a lot of guys who know who they are and are staying true to the pitcher they are.”
Oddly enough, Odorizzi and Gibson began buying into Johnson’s philosophies even before he was hired. A couple of years ago, Gibson began working with pitching instructor Randy Sullivan, who had worked alongside Johnson and current Astros pitching coach Brent Strom at the Texas Baseball Ranch, perhaps the most influential lab in the modern pitching movement. In the offseason, Odorizzi joined Sullivan’s Florida stable, a few weeks before Johnson joined the Twins.
Gibson posted a 5.07 ERA in 2016- 17 but cut that to 3.62 last season. It’s ticked up to 4.76 in 28 starts this season, but under Johnson his strikeout- walk ratio is a career- best 3.02.
In preparing for a recent start against Washington, Gibson dialed up his last outing against the Nationals, in 2016, and he said it was like looking at a different pitcher.
“It’s crazy how much things have changed for me physically, trying to be better in my delivery,” says Gibson. “I was kind of behind on that. It was cool to go back and see how you’ve changed and tried to get better.”
His catcher can relate.
In 2018, Garver’s first full season, he hit seven home runs and posted a .749 OPS in 335 plate appearances.
This season, he is still splitting time with Jason Castro and has 332 plate appearances. It’s just that he’s hit 30 home runs with a 1.012 OPS in them.
Between now and then? Garver, an Albuquerque native, says it was just a few offseason words from his longtime hitting instructor, Jason Columbus.
“He said, ‘ Hey, let’s get you on the plate this year and have you try to hit home runs,’ ” says Garver. “I said OK, let’s do it.”
That simple? Perhaps. Columbus’ most notorious client, fellow New Mexican Alex Bregman, has done all right heeding his words, and Columbus has since relocated to Houston. Garver’s refrain is a familiar one.
“I stopped worrying about getting base hits, tried to focus on hitting the ball in the air, to the pull side,” says Garver. “Because if I hit a single, I’m not stealing second. I need to be on second, or I need to hit a home run to score.
“In this age we’re in, it’s the OPS era. That’s what organizations want, that’s what teams want, and that’s kind of how you score the most runs, by driving balls that way.”
It’s an approach that might help them exorcise some October demons.
Getting over the hump
At 39, Cruz is two years older than his manager, and of the eight Twins with at least 22 home runs, he’s the only one not in the career sweet spot between 25 and 29.
“Hey, somebody’s got to be the old guy,” he notes.
It’s been eight years since he made the second of consecutive World Series trips with the Rangers and six seasons since he accepted a 50- game suspension for his connection to the Biogenesis doping scandal.
He’s only continued to mash home runs since – 240 for Baltimore, Seattle and Minnesota – and now can ponder how he’d approach a World Series at 39 compared to 31.
“It’d be a dream come true,” he says. “It’s something you cannot take for granted. You go back- to- back two years and you think, ‘ Oh, this is easy.’ You can’t think that. It’s definitely not. God gave me a chance to get back, with these teammates, and I’m just going to enjoy every moment.”
Minnesota is ready. The Twins have not advanced in six playoff appearances since 2003, with five of the eliminations at the Yankees’ hands, including the 2017 wild- card game. The Yankees have won 13 of 15 playoff games against them in that span.
Gibson was drafted in 2009, but not a major leaguer when the Yankees swept them 3- 0 in both 2009 and ’ 10.
“Minnesota sports, in general, have fallen into some bad luck, in all four sports, really,” he says. “The only team that has been consistently successful has been the Lynx, and they’ve been dominant ( four WNBA titles from 201117). Twins fans are definitely ready for some October baseball. We teased them in 2017, and we couldn’t get out of New York. They expect a lot, since they had two World Series in ’ 87 and ’ 91 and are kind of starved for another one since it’s been a few years.”
Says Rosario, whose May 2015 debut makes him the longest- tenured Twins regular: “I want to play in the playoffs in Minnesota. I’ve played a long time in the city, and that’s what I want to see.”
It’s inevitable now, though the Twins must sally forth without peerless defensive center fielder Byron Buxton ( shoulder surgery) and starter Michael Pineda, serving a 60- game suspension for a PED violation. While Berrios and Odorizzi figure to be their 1- 2 starters, it would not be surprising to see the Twins get creative in pitcher usage from there, particularly now that a once- struggling bullpen has rallied to post a major league- best 2.91 ERA since mid- August.
Baldelli’s eyes light up just a bit in discussing rookie Brusdar Graterol, who touched 101 mph in a scoreless two- inning stint to key the Twins’ most important day of the year – a doubleheader sweep of Cleveland on Saturday, both wins coming in “bullpen games.” Putting Graterol – who still has just five major league innings to his name – in highleverage playoff situations for now looks like a bold move.
Then again, the Twins wouldn’t be here without a few leaps of faith.
“We know we’re not close to where we want to be,” says Baldelli, “but this is exactly the course we wanted to be on.”