No return to winning streaks yet. Today the Twins face...Wil Crowe? Let’s start one.
Checking standings, it seems the only team batting worse than the Twins right now is somehow my fantasy baseball team. I’m not sure I could have drafted a worse start if I tried. Time to shake things up.
I hope the weather turns to a warmer spring soon (The forecast does call for that starting tomorrow). Working outside in the cold cloudy clammy weather stinks. Watching baseball being played in late April in 40 degree temps also stinks.
To be fair, it was a mild winter with an early thaw. But April has been extra gloomy this year.
That March thaw was a much-needed blessing, though.
Before Sunday's games, Twins batters led the major leagues in hard-hit percentage.
I keep reading that, about the hard-hit percentage. You didn't say so, but a lot of people imply, or outright say, that the Twins are just hitting in bad luck. Maybe, but
1. Opposing teams shift on nearly every Twins batter.
2. It's rare that we see a Twins batter try to beat the shift by hitting the ball the other way, which means
3. When they hit the ball hard, they are hitting it into the teeth of the shift. It's not surprising, then, that a lot of those hard-hit balls are turned into outs. That's not bad luck. That's what the shift is supposed to do, if you insist on hitting into it.
You don't run the shift if there are baserunners. This is what was buoying Max early on, and can do wonders. But yeah.