Jeff: It's a Twins Town Now!

Do we even need to review the Vikings or Gophers losses? If you read this site Friday, you'd have known it was going to happen. The Gophs season is essentially over, and if the Vikings don't find a way to get some offensive touchdowns, there's could be as well. But the Twins? My goodness the Twins!

This just feels like the year of destiny, doesn't it? I've been sitting here all morning trying to rationalize their strengths and weaknesses, but what this team has done and is still capable of doing defies logic. There's really no other way to say it. Tied with the Tiggers going into the weekend, I would have said a Gopher win over Michigan was more probable than the Tigers getting swept by the Royals, a team I pointed out on Friday (as did everybody else) that were just OWNED by Detroit. And yet it happened. The Twins took 2 of 3 from a White Sox team that had to feel like it was playing in the Twilight Zone instead of the Metrodome. They had a playoff team down there on the SouthSide, and a team that on paper was better than the Twins or Tigers, yet they'll be watching the playoffs from home instead of defending their title. And I think that's the point: it takes more than talent to win a World Series. You have to have luck and chemistry, and since June the Twins have had a ton of both.

The chemistry, with the "Smell those Runs" campaign started by backup catcher Mike Redmond, is the best in baseball. Seeing them on the field after the game, watching the Jumbotron to await the DEtwah/KC finish, they just looked like a team of guys that really liked each other and really got along. The Yankees are unquestionably the best team in the postseason. That shouldn't be argued by anyone. They have flaws, sure, but that offense alone is enough to overcome any pitching woes they have. But don't they seem like a bunch of hired guns forced to work together? Like every guy there wants to win for himself (well other than Jeter), not for the other guys in the room? Sure there's an "I" in Minnesota, but there's also t-e-a-m!
And that's what gives your hometown 9 as good a chance as anybody to win their first World Series since 1991.

Now back to logic. DO NOT, for one second, take this Oakland team lightly! I know the Twins won't, but I worry there's a lot of fans out there who are already dreaming about a Twins/Yankees ALCS (let's be honest, if the Tiggers take a game, I'd be surprised. I won't bore you with the breakdown but they don't match up well at all with the Yankees. Not that anyone does, but you know). Don't. Worry about the guys in Green and Gold first, because they're a very good team and have been just as hot as the Twins down the stretch. This is a Billy Beane "Moneyball" team to a tee: solid pitching, good defenders, and patient hitters. Their lineup doesn't get much respect (then again neither does the Twins outside the Land O' Lakes), and the only offensive category they're better than MInnesota in is homeruns (and this isn't exactly the Reggie Jackson A's of the 1970's or the Steroid Boys of McGwire and Canseco), but they've still got some veteran hitters that can hurt you.

The Twins have baseball's best bullpen (scroll halfway down this column by Jason Stark to see other teams raving about the Twins pen), but the A's have starting pitching, something the Twins are very thin on. Both clubs fit the "Little Engine that Could" tag, so it should be a great series, but the A's don't have Santana, Mauer, Morneausy (who, by the way, was sporting a Todd Bertuzzi Vancouver Canucks t-shirt during postgame fesitivities. Kind of brings a tear to the eye watching the local kid), or any ability to "Smell those Runs" so the Twins get the edge.

HOWEVER, Minnesota has to win the opener tomorrow. Let me repeat that: they HAVE TO WIN THE OPENER. And just because Santana's on the hill tomorrow, doesn't make Game 1 a gimme. Zito is not only a lefty, which makes it tough on Mauer and Morneau, but he's also a soft-tosser, which seems to give the Twins fits this year (see Redman, Mark as an example). As Buster Olney points out in his blog (I'd link to it but if you don't have Insider there's no point), if Zito gets the fastball over for strikes early, he's going to make life difficult on Twins hitters because his big curveball, maybe baseball's best, becomes almost unhittable.

The pen will be the key here, and as Olney also points out, not only is the Twins pen better, but the A's don't have a lefty to neutralize the M&M Boys. If the Twins can get to Zito early, or at least battle him and get him out by the 5th or 6th, their chances look pretty good.

OF course as this Twins team proved over the weekend, they don't worry too much about logic or matchups or strengths and weaknesses: they just go out and win. And they're 11 more away from a World Series Title, no matter how improbable that may seem.