This was real “Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it” stuff. When the Minnesota Twins got together in spring training, the brass and coaches wanted them to re🌼member the bad times.
Specifically, the 103-loss bad times of 2016.
“Last year, we had quite a bit of errors. They told u🍨s in spring training not to focus on last year but always remember♈ what it felt like,” center fielder Byron Buxton said. “Remembering the feeling of losing 103 games, that pushed us to want to be fundamentally sound.”
And so 2017 has held far more ups than downs, so much so the Twi༺ns, who started a three-game series at Yankee Stadium with a 2-1 loss on Monday, were aligned as the potential wild-card opponent for the Yankees.
Yeah, that’s a change from 2016, but change has been par🌟t of the Twins landscape, and with nearly two weeks remaining, much can hap💙pen.
“There’s a lot of games left to be played, ” said backup catcher Chris Gimenez, who was with AL champ Cleveland last year. “If you’ve watched our season, you know a lot of things can change in 10 games. We can go from buyers at the trading deadline to sell💝ers in a week. But to be in this position i💜s exciting.”
And one good thing? The Twins might be too young to realize what the heck is ha🐻ppening.
“A lot of guys are young enoug🦩h that they don’t know what it’s about yet,ꦗ” Gimenez said.
The Twins won 83 games in 2015 and seemed like a team on the rise — then, disaster. Th🥂ey started 2016 at🌊 0-9 and never recovered.
Defensively, they weren’t just bad. They were the worst in the Amer🐻ican League.
“We got away from the fundamental aspects of the game,” second baseman Brian Dozier said. “We lost a ton of one-run ga💦mes that were the result of miscues on the defensive end … the little things within a game that are supposed to happen every single time. Keeping double plays in order, hitting relay cutoff men, throwing to⭕ the right base, and that’s not the fault of not knowing what to do, but we were very young.”
If there were a silver lining in that misery, young guys got to play — and blossom. So the Twins, who rampaged through August with a 20-10 record, sniff the postseason with those young guys like the defensive whiz Buxton, who struggled horribly on offense early but has hit .339 since July 4 c🔴oming into Monday’s game. Shortstop Jorge Polanco’s 30 RBIs s🍬ince Aug. 17 are the most in the AL. Right fielder Eddie Rosario is hitting .295 overall with 36 RBIs in his past 39 games.
And leading the defense is Buxton.
“Buxton’s come around with the strides he’s made offensively. Defensively, he’s the best I’ve seen in my career. Not even close to anybody elseﷺ,” Dozier, a 31-home run guy, raved. “Ask every one of the pitchers in here. Without him in center field, we’re a totally different team.”
There have been the bumps. The Twins went through a rough patch near the trading deadline and dealt closer Brandon Kintzler. Slugger Miguel Sano missed his 29th game Monday as a result of a shin stress reaction. The Twinꦕs acquired — then dealt — Jaime Garcia (who started for the Yankees on Monday) when they went from buyers to sellers. Ironically, losing Kintzler galvanized the team, especially with the likes of Matt Belisle accepting the closer job with young guy Trevor Hildenberger emerging as a prime setup guy.
“It just came at a bad time for us,” Gimenez said of the trade. “But w🌊e’ve always had that next-man-up mentality. It does suck and was kind of a gut punch, but we got together and said, ‘Listen, we didn’t trade everybody. It’s not saying we can’t do something special.’ It has in a way jelled everybody together.”
So that was the team that rolled in against the Yan🐲kees, holding the second wild-card spot, set to play the team it may see shortly with far more at stake.
“It possibly could help. I want to see how some of these guys respond. It’s always a little different here,” manager Paul Molito𝄹r said before the game. “You try to keep it as normal as you can, but it’s different. I’ve played here in Oc🏅tober. It’s just got a different feel.”