Twins Win AL Central

Last night the Twins clinched their second straight AL Central title, and 6th in the last 9 years. They took care of business with a come from behind win at home vs. Cleveland and had to wait on Oakland to finally put the White Sox out of their misery. Once the final out was recorded in Oakland, the champagne started flowing in Minnesota. I don’t know if any team has more fun than the Twinkies. What an atmosphere!

Let’s first take a look back at how we got there. At the All Star Break the Twins sat in 3rd place in the Central, 3.5 behind Chicago and 3 behind Detroit. Since then the Twins have recorded a record of 46-18. Most of that was without Justin Morneau and through several other key injuries (Mauer, Kubel, Span, Hardy all spent time on the DL). Bill Smith went out and made several moves that solidified the bullpen. The acquisitions of Fuentes and Capps have been crucial to our second half success and have led the Twins to the best bullpen ERA in the AL.

The starting rotation has been equally strong. With a combined ERA of 4.00, which is good for 3rd in the AL, each starter has had a lot of success. Pavano and Liriano are not necessarily surprises but there were questions about consistency and health. Blackburn has been the Twins best pitcher since he got recalled from AAA. His ERA is below 2.00 in that stretch. Duensing has also been huge for the Twins by contributing quality starts when the rotation was struggling.

Now let’s take a look forward. But not ahead to the playoffs quite yet. I’m talking about securing the best record in the AL and getting homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. After the Twins win today, we are only .5 game back of the Yankees for the top spot. It is within reach. Even if we give key players a few more days off down the stretch, utility players like Casilla and Punto have been winning games for the Twins all year. We play Detroit and KC three times each and the Jays 4 times at home. DO-ABLE! Homefield advantage would give the Twins a legitimate shot of representing the AL in the WS. We have the best home record in all of baseball (52-25) and its not surprising because of the incredible atmosphere at Target Field.