Minnesota Twins show they have what it takes for the Wild Card game
The Minnesota Twins are inching closer and closer to a playoff berth and they are showing that they could be a dangerous team in a one game Wild Card game.
Baseball is a weird game. It is really the only sport where a far lesser team can destroy a superior team and the public doesn’t freak out. We just accept it and move on. That’s a creation of the insane amount of games and that amount of games means some interesting things are bound to happen. That has been the case for the Minnesota Twins.
On Saturday, the game started with a leadoff bunt by Brian Dozier that ended up with him scoring. Yes, you read that right. Dozier’s bunt landed by the feet of the third baseman who air-mailed it over first which resulted in Dozier huffing and puffing around the bases to score on his own bunt.
You’d think that would add up enough momentum for the Twins to coast to victory over the not-really-trying-anymore Detroit Tigers, but it wasn’t. Going into the eighth inning, the Twins found themselves down by a score of 3-2, but the Twins had a 10-3 lead once the eighth inning ended.
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Minnesota scored eight runs in the inning with only one home run, heck, the home run hit was merely insurance runs for the squad. Eddie Rosario, Eduardo Escobar and Robbie Grossman all had the first scoring plays of the inning with RBI singles. Jason Castro grounded out, but Byron Buxton crossed the plate. Zack Granite was the man who knocked it out of the park with a three-run homer to top off the scoring.
Why is that one inning burst important? It proves the Twins can take control of a single game and score a bunch of runs to win it. Why is that important? The Twins will need that kind of play in a potential American League Wild Card game.
The Twins are not catching the Indians, so if the Twins hold on to make the playoffs, they’ll need to play a one-game playoff, probably against the New York Yankees, to get to the best of five American League Division Series. The one-game playoff is a crapshoot the way it is, so any offensive burst is important.
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The Minnesota Twins will have to keep the offense rolling in the last few days of the season to ensure that playoff berth. The Twins have a handful more games with the Tigers and a series with the Cleveland Indians before the playoffs begin.