Died As They Lived

ALDS Game 4:

Astros 3

Twins 2

The 2023 Minnesota Twins did some memorable things. They won the first playoff game since 2004, advanced for the first time in the playoffs since 2002, found a bona-fide big game ace, and maybe a new face of the franchise superstar. 

But they also struck out. Constantly. Relentlessly. 1,654 times in the regular season, a new record. And another 73 in just 6 playoff games, including 14 in an elimination game. This team died as they lived.

And they only had 3 hits in game 4. An Edouard Julien leadoff double was quickly wiped out by a double play. But then Royce Lewis hit his 4th homerun of these playoffs to give the Twins a 1-0 lead. 

That lead lasted 3 batters, when Michael Brantley took Joe Ryan deep to tie it. 

That one bad pitch was enough for Rocco Baldelli to make the move to the bullpen. I'm not sure why you even bother starting Ryan (who hadn't pitched in nearly 2 weeks) if you are going to have this quick a hook. Plus, it sets up that you will have a succession of pitchers out there, and if any of them have a bad day you're probably screwed. 

First out of the pen was Brock Stewart and he was on. But next came Caleb Thielbar and he was not on, and Jose Abreu hit a 2 run homerun off him. Chris Paddack was very good after that, as were Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran.

Even better was Astros starter Jose Urquidy. Or were the Twins bats just this pitiful? We went 5 innings between hits. Julien lofted a longball in the 6th to cut it to 3-2, which chased Urquidy.

So maybe we could do damage to the Astros bullpen? Nah. It got worse. We never got a hit again. We struck out for 8 of the final 10 outs.

Weirdly, Rocco sent out Byron Buxton to pinch hit in the 8th, his first at bat in a game since August 1st. An act of desperation, but hey, maybe we get a fun moment. Nah, Buxton popped out. 

Fittingly, in the 9th the Twins went down 1-2-3, all strikeouts. And with that ended what would probably have to be called the most successful Twins season in over 20 years. 

And I do think it is fair to say it was a success. This was never a World Series team. I feel like they mostly reached their potential. They ended that 0-18 streak that had hung over this franchise. 

But this can NOT be the best this era of Twins baseball brings. The Twins talent and the AL Central's likely continued awfulness mean that there should be a run here of regular playoff appearances. And there needs to be something more. If we are sitting here in 5 years and the best it ever got was a wild card series win over Toronto, that's a monumental failure.

The Twins still need a lot of roster improvement to be a real title contender. 

You apparently still need to upgrade the rotation behind Pablo Lopez. Sonny Gray is probably gone, they clearly didn't trust Ryan, and Bailey Ober was bad in the playoffs. 

The lineup simply must have a philosophical change. Striking out this much in a post-shift ban game is suicide. The Twins have a few young guys who are locked in, plus Correa and Buxton (who knows what you ever get from him again). Polanco might be gone. Kepler might end up staying. But you need some sort of veteran presence that understands the idea of hitting the ball for contact and not just power. 

I've not been a Falvine fan, but I'll back off after having a taste of playoff success. But now there will be expectations, and being bounced 3-1 in a division series next year will not be met with a pat on the back.