What's most surprising? September 18th, 2006 at 5:59 pm
What’s most surprising about the Twins being in the playoff hunt after their slumpy start? Is it how well the Twins have played or is it how poorly Chicago and Detroit have played?
On June 20th I wrote that the Twins would likely need about 95 wins to make the playoffs as a wild card team. I noted that it would be a tough number to attain because they’d have to play nearly .650 baseball the rest of the way. They’ve done just that. I predicted that Detroit would fall back to earth and win between 90 and 95 games which at the moment seems like a pretty accurate prediction. What I didn’t expect was the collapse of the White Sox. I wrote that 100+ wins was possible for the White Sox, so you can certainly label me surprised that they’re currently not in good shape to make the playoffs at all.
For me there are two surprises: The Twins playing remarkably well and the White Sox playing remarkably bad. The Twins needed the stars to align just right to make the playoffs and it appears that’s what happened. Throw in the fact that they did it without Liriano and Radke for extended periods of time and it’s even more surprising.
The Twins certainly aren’t succeeding solely because of other teams’ failures. You have to give them a ton of credit for playing well against Detroit and Chicago in the second half of the season. They’ve won 7 of 9 against Chicago and 6 of 10 against Detroit since the All-Star break. The Twins have won the games they’ve had to win and that’s the major reason their playoff hopes are so strong right now.
Win totals
The Twins haven’t won 95 games since 1991. If they surpass the 95 win mark it’ll be the highest win total for the Twins since they won 98 in 1970.
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2 Comments
Kris wrote: September 19th, 2006 at 1:21 pm
Good point about Boof. I could probably look back at old entries and find a few times where I stated that Boof was not a solution as a starter. I'm still not totally confident when he pitches, but he's proved to be an adequate end of the rotation starter.
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Jeremy wrote: September 19th, 2006 at 10:50 am
I'm not suprised by the White Sox fall, but that's more a result of my intense distaste for them than any actual baseball prophecy.
For me, the most surprising part of all this is how well they've done without Liriano and Radke, which you mentioned, and most of that surprise comes from Boof Bonser. All season long I didn't think this guy had a chance, and now he's our most dependable starter after Johan. Kudos to him and Garza both.
My big hope now is that Silva's recent return to his 2005 form is for good.