The Twins’ eight-game lead through 49 games marks the earliest in a season the Twins have ever held such a large lead in the divisional era (since 1969). The earliest they had previously mounted an eight-game lead had been in 2002, when they were eight games up after 91 games.
I don't mean to alert anyone, but they are also tied with Houston for the largest run differential.
To further alarm everyone, I was messing around on Fangraphs and not only are they getting on base and socking dingers, but they haven't been particularly lucky compared to the rest of the league, landing in the bottom half of the league in BABIP. So they might just actually have good hitters.
It's becuz they got rid of Mauer!
Souhan going full Skip Bayless.
NO MOAR PUSSY SINGLES!!!111ONE111!!!
And that makes me wonder how our FIP and xFIP compare to the rest of the league now. I'll have to look into that. I had this progression with the offense where initially I said, oh, every team is hitting a lot of homers, the balls are juiced again, and put it down to that. Then the Twins started to separate from the pack and I thought it was an early season SSS anomaly. We're two months into the campaign now and we know what we've got, and it includes a damn good offense. There isn't that much that needs fixing on this team; a little bullpen upgrading would go a long way, so we'll see if the FO makes any moves before the deadline. The versatility of this team and some minor league depth gives them maneuvering room, and it makes a lot of sense to double down on a hand this good.
Falvey (or Levine?) on the radio yesterday mentioned transitioning some minor league starters to relievers, specifically in support of this season. Seemed they're looking at options.
The super obvious division winners that sat on their hands all offseason are two games ahead of the White Sox right now, and that number has been getting smaller.
A Dugout with Gentleman Jim discussing the Minnesota DongerJackers would be fun.
I know we mentioned this in passing yesterday, but KAT not making an All-NBA team is ... questionable.
KAT was 7th in Box Plus-Minus, 9th in Win Shares, 5th in VORP, 4th in PER, 13th in PPG, 7th in RPG, 5th in Offensive Rebounds. Without Thibs, his production went up (26.8/12.4/3.7 in 32.2 MPH under Saunders vs 22.2/12.4/3.0 in 33.8 under Thibs this year) even though his minutes went down.
I'm not saying he got screwed. I'm just sayin'.
Thibs and Jimmy poisoned the media narrative around him so badly. I’m not sure it’ll recover.
Until he forces his way out of Minnesota and plays just as well for whatever team he gets traded to, of course.
Anything is possible!
Jerseys and shirley's at Epcot today:
Michael Jordan (Space Jam)
Diego Costa
Aaron Rodgers
Timo Werner
Kylian Mbappé
LeBron James
Stephen Curry
Alex Bregman
Bryce Harper
Pete Rose
Joel Embiid
Gyasi Zardes
Giovani dos Santos
Mookie Betts
Todd Gurley III
Also, the coffee shop at the entrance of the World Showcase is Joffrey's Coffee.
Baldelli in the pregame was asked about Austin Adams being sent down, and he said (I paraphrase), "He sucked."
Okay someone -- time to put up the poll: Which Twin hits HR #100 on the season? Should be around the third inning tonight
Good morning. Its the Friday before Memorial Day and the Twins have a 8 game lead in the division.
Is that good?
NOT GOOD ENOUGH
Earliest ever for the Twins by a few games.
I don't mean to alert anyone, but they are also tied with Houston for the largest run differential.
To further alarm everyone, I was messing around on Fangraphs and not only are they getting on base and socking dingers, but they haven't been particularly lucky compared to the rest of the league, landing in the bottom half of the league in BABIP. So they might just actually have good hitters.
It's becuz they got rid of Mauer!
Souhan going full Skip Bayless.
NO MOAR PUSSY SINGLES!!!111ONE111!!!
And that makes me wonder how our FIP and xFIP compare to the rest of the league now. I'll have to look into that. I had this progression with the offense where initially I said, oh, every team is hitting a lot of homers, the balls are juiced again, and put it down to that. Then the Twins started to separate from the pack and I thought it was an early season SSS anomaly. We're two months into the campaign now and we know what we've got, and it includes a damn good offense. There isn't that much that needs fixing on this team; a little bullpen upgrading would go a long way, so we'll see if the FO makes any moves before the deadline. The versatility of this team and some minor league depth gives them maneuvering room, and it makes a lot of sense to double down on a hand this good.
Falvey (or Levine?) on the radio yesterday mentioned transitioning some minor league starters to relievers, specifically in support of this season. Seemed they're looking at options.
The super obvious division winners that sat on their hands all offseason are two games ahead of the White Sox right now, and that number has been getting smaller.
A Dugout with Gentleman Jim discussing the Minnesota DongerJackers would be fun.
I know we mentioned this in passing yesterday, but KAT not making an All-NBA team is ... questionable.
KAT was 7th in Box Plus-Minus, 9th in Win Shares, 5th in VORP, 4th in PER, 13th in PPG, 7th in RPG, 5th in Offensive Rebounds. Without Thibs, his production went up (26.8/12.4/3.7 in 32.2 MPH under Saunders vs 22.2/12.4/3.0 in 33.8 under Thibs this year) even though his minutes went down.
I'm not saying he got screwed. I'm just sayin'.
Thibs and Jimmy poisoned the media narrative around him so badly. I’m not sure it’ll recover.
Anything is possible!
Jerseys and shirley's at Epcot today:
Michael Jordan (Space Jam)
Diego Costa
Aaron Rodgers
Timo Werner
Kylian Mbappé
LeBron James
Stephen Curry
Alex Bregman
Bryce Harper
Pete Rose
Joel Embiid
Gyasi Zardes
Giovani dos Santos
Mookie Betts
Todd Gurley III
Also, the coffee shop at the entrance of the World Showcase is Joffrey's Coffee.
Baldelli in the pregame was asked about Austin Adams being sent down, and he said (I paraphrase), "He sucked."