Gordon Wittenmyer, who follows the Twins for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, comments on the Minnesota Twins preparing for the post season for the first time since 1991. The Twins clinched the AL Central with a win over Cleveland Indians and a Chicago White Sox loss to the New York Yankees. Wittenmyer says the prior night's locker room celebration went on and on.
SPEAKER 1: It was incredible. The team president said that it was better than or longer lasting than probably even '87, when they hadn't been there since 1970. And I talked to some Cleveland writers who said it was longer than they remember seeing the Indians celebrate any of those six years that they won the titles in the 90s and early this decade.
SPEAKER 2: So it obviously meant a lot to the players. Why do you think this was so special for them?
SPEAKER 1: Well, these guys have been together through the minor leagues. They really know each other well and they've been through some hard times. I mean, even in the minor leagues. And coming up, I mean, this in 1999 and 2000 when most of these guys were just breaking into the Major Leagues, they were the worst team in the American League. They had the worst record in the American League. '99, it was the worst in the majors.
And all of a sudden last year, they were the surprise of baseball, got off to that great start, and all of that experience together, turned into this special year. And when they look at each other in that clubhouse, they're all looking into a mirror at each other.
SPEAKER 2: What jelled this year? What are the strengths?
SPEAKER 1: Well, one of the things. And I think we've talked about this before when I've come on, is they expected the starting pitching to carry them from the get go and the starting pitching broke down, injuries early in the season to key players. And what they didn't count on was that their bullpen was going to be so strong, and that became the backbone for them the first half of the season. And then as their starting pitchers began regaining health, the second half of the year, it's all just come together. At one point in August, they suddenly found themselves with a double digit lead and that was-- and that was the end of that.
SPEAKER 2: How about their weaknesses?
SPEAKER 1: One of their weaknesses is one of their strengths in a sense. They're very aggressive on the basepaths, and that puts pressure on the other team. But they've also run themselves out of innings and occasionally run themselves out of games. They have the lowest success rate stealing bases in the majors this year. Some of that's due to injuries. Most of that's due to being a little bit reckless at times. So that's the biggest thing. And then of course, once they get into the playoffs, the big challenge is going to be that only a couple of them have been there before.
SPEAKER 2: How does this team compare to 1987 and 1991 when they won the World Series?
SPEAKER 1: Well, it's a different kind of a team. One thing that's very similar about it is those teams were very good fielding teams. This is another one of those. This team might be a better fielding team. There's really not a weakness when they put their A team on the field defensively. The thing that this team doesn't do, it doesn't hit a lot of home runs. It's not that kind of a team. It's a little more athletic, it's a little faster, and they have to manufacture runs a little bit more than those teams did.
SPEAKER 2: Would you say it's a better team?
SPEAKER 1: I wouldn't make that comparison, at least not yet. I mean, they've got to do something first. That team proved to be very special, and we didn't know how special until they made their postseason runs. Until this team does something in the postseason, I don't even think that you can make that comparison.
SPEAKER 2: How do you think the Twins will fare when the playoffs start?
SPEAKER 1: Well, a lot of it's-- a lot of it's just going to come down to matchups. They're going to open on the road no matter what, whether it's at Anaheim or at Oakland. Depending on how late into the season that race goes down there, we won't know if those teams are going to be able to set their pitching rotations leading into the playoffs.
They might have to pitch whoever they got left after closing out the thing on the last day of the season, or somebody for the Angels like Jared Washburn, a left hander who gives the Twins problems, could be pitching game one or Mulder Zito Hudson could be pitching for the A's game one. We don't know. That's going to be a big, big difference, a big difference maker in this.
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