During the 2019 season, the Twins earned the nickname “bomba” — Spanish for bomb — for the record number of home runs the team hit. In case you’ve forgotten, it was 307 home runs, a new single-season record. And after Sunday’s beat down of the Chicago White Sox, it’s clear the bomba squad is alive,... Continue Reading »

After Ted Williams retired, and before Carl Yastrzemski rose to prominence, the Boston Red Sox were not very good. They lost often during the early 1960s and finally hit bottom with 100 losses in 1965, including to the Twins, who pushed them around in 17 of 18 meetings that season. That’s right: the Twins were... Continue Reading »

The Twins were barely competitive in 1979, finishing the season with a record of 82-80. It also was manager Gene Mauch’s final full season with the club, and star infielder, Rod Carew, who hit .388 in 1977, was no longer with the Twins after he was traded during the offseason. His departure was almost a... Continue Reading »

I’m not positive that major league baseball and its players truly settled their COVID-19 differences, but no matter: baseball is back. Summer training begins soon, followed by a 60-game season that gets underway later this month. At first glance, the shorter and geographically condensed season would appear to work in the Twins favor. Or does... Continue Reading »

A season after the Twins went to the World Series in 1965, they got off to a slow start and played mostly .500 ball. But there were signs the second half of the season might be different, particularly on June 9, 1966, when the Twins hosted the Kansas City A’s before only 9,600 fans. Curveballer... Continue Reading »

In our slower, baseball-less world, except in South Korea, of course, I found myself staring at Twitter when a tweet popped up about a horrible Twins loss on May 13, 1985. Where did this happen? Where else? The Bronx, the site of so much Twins agony. On that spring night at Yankee Stadium, the Twins... Continue Reading »

A season before the Washington Senators picked up stakes and moved to Minnesota, the Washington team kicked off its final season in D.C. in style, courtesy of a 26-year-old Cuban curveballer named, Camilo Pascual. Pascual’s pitching that day was good enough for inclusion on Baseball-Reference.com’s top opening day pitching performances. He won 17 games the... Continue Reading »

Amid the business of spring training — lineups with lots of new faces and veterans slowly working their way back from the offseason — a tweet caught my eye. Yankee Stadium, 1967, a few short year before it would be totally reconfigured (1974-75). #Yankees pic.twitter.com/QYpxwdpiuS — MLBcathedrals (@MLBcathedrals) February 27, 2020 This time it was... Continue Reading »

Major League Baseball has pitched a new playoff proposal for the 2022 season and beyond, a plan that was unveiled this month and landed with an overwhelming thud. Many, I think, are supportive of expanding playoff opportunities to more teams, but a nationally televised seeding process where teams would pick who they play? That would... Continue Reading »