Twins Clinch AL Central
(Abbie Parr) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
After beating the Los Angeles Angels 8-6 on Friday, September 22, 2023, the Minnesota Twins clinched the Americal League Central for the first time in the last three years. After winning back-to-back American League Central titles in 2019 and 2020, the Twins finished the 2021 season in last place.
The Twins are the first team in the American League to clinch their division, but with that said, the Twins are still more than likely to finish as the third seed in the American League, and it is also looking like the Twins will have the worst record in the American League playoff bracket. The Rays, who have clinched a playoff birth but not their division; the Blue Jays, who have the second playoff spot as of Friday; the Astros, who have the third spot; and the Mariners, who are a half-game back from the third playoff spot, all have better records than the Twins.
(Abbie Parr) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
The American League Central is the worst division in the American League, if not all of baseball, so even with the division clinched, the Twins will have to play a team with a better record than them in the playoffs.
The Twins do have some bright spots heading into the playoffs; with 154 games played the Twins pitching staff as a team are second in strikeouts (1451) and are sixth in ERA (3.90). With most teams running a three-person rotation in the playoffs, this could benefit the Twins tremendously: Pablo López, who was acquired from Miami before the 2023 season, is the first Twin in half a decade to have 200-plus strikeouts, and Sonny Gray, who the Twins received from Cinncinati in 2021, has been one of the American Leagues ERA leaders all season. Both pitchers will be in the three-person rotation, but the third spot is in the air. The third spot will likely be filled by either Joe Ryan or Kenta Maeda. Joe Ryan has had an underwhelming season as he was supposed to be a dark horse for the Cy Young at the start of the year with a record of 10-10, 4.30 ERA, and 181 strikeouts in 151.2 innings. On the other side, Kenta Maeda has been on par with his expectations with a record of 6-7, 4.28 ERA, and 112 strikeouts in 101 innings.
(Jay Biggerstaff)-(USA TODAY Sports)
Offensively, the Twins have had some bright spots, but they were less consistent than the pitching staff. For the Twins to make a playoff run, their offense needs to be consistent. Offensively, they have 11 players with more or ten home runs, which shows they can hit the long ball even with platoon or bench players. One of the Twins recent bright spots, Royce Lewis, was put on the IL again this season with a hamstring injury and will be out till at least October 1. Lewis has been one of the Twin's best hitters this year when healthy; recently, Lewis hit his 4th grand slam of the year, breaking the rookie record for most grand slams in a rookie year.
(Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins) (Getty Images)
As playoffs are close, the Twins need to stay on their hot streak going as they are 7-3 in their last ten games and hope the pitching staff can continue to be the same as they have been the Twins backbone all year.
