The Minnesota Twins were having a season like the ones that came before: a first-half filled with injuries and mildly inspiring .550 play in baseball's weakest division. Only, a funny thing happened on the way to the Metrodome this season; for reasons and in ways still unclear, the White Sox have played on 100-win pace all season.
Thus, the pesky, perky, imperfect small-market Twins have gone from ever-ready counterpoise to the evils of Moneyball to just another version of the Indians... although through no work of their own. Are the 01-04 Twins the weakest three-time division champions in history? Well who are they better than?
Tonight, the Twins turn to Scott Baker (1-1, 2.77 ERA) against the Royals and the once-proud D.J. Carrasco (5-7, 4.88 ERA) at the K. I expect nothing short of a heated battle between these two.