Two months ago, the Twins led the Division by 12 1/2 games in the American League Central (AL). They are the most prolific home run hitting team in baseball history. They have hit 228 home runs after 118 games and are on pace to hit 315.
No team in 100 years of baseball has ever hit that many.
All the clichés you can muster doesn’t explain what they have been through. As the saying goes, “It’s not how you start it’s how you finish.” That is the bottom line.
I was sharing some painful memories of pennant race collapses of my youth on-air recently. Oh, do they leave scars!
The 1969 Chicago Cubs, when I was a young kid growing up in Chicago, is one such memory. Hurt me so bad I never recovered.
I was a Cubs fan then in Chicago; we had two teams the White Sox and Cubs. The Cubs led the New York Mets by 12 games in August. They had Jack Brickhouse, Harry Carey, and Lew Burdette as broadcasters and all the games were on WGN. These guys were homers who could really tell stories.
All Cubs home games were day games. You see Wrigley Field had no lights, so when grade school was over, the Cubs were always on TV — I was hooked!
They were really four good Hall of Fame players: Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ron Santo, Fergie Jenkins, Don Kissinger. Our manager was Leo Durocher who once had managed Jackie Robinson.
I was so impressionable growing up in the turbulent ’60s. Angered by the shooting deaths of our President John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, my pain and misunderstanding during that time were so deep I just could not understand what was going on.
I started dreaming about being an athlete. So when the Mets got hot that summer in August with Tom Seaver and Tommie Agee and blew by the Cubs to win the National League and later the World Series over the Baltimore Orioles, I was crushed and never forgave the Cubs for breaking my heart. I have been a White Sox fan ever since.
In 1978, when I arrived in Minnesota to begin my journey as a journalist, the Boston Red Sox led the New York Yankees by 14 games in August. The Yankees caught the Red Sox and won a one-game playoff and later beat the Los Angeles Dodgers for the World Series in six games.
Cleveland has won the AL Central three years in a row; since June 4 they are 42-17 — that’s the best record in baseball. Injuries, everybody has them, and poor pitching has hurt the Twins. Byron Buxton, their talented center fielder, is on the injury list again for the third time.
Slugger Nelson Cruz just went on the injured list for the second time. He has 32 home runs to lead the team, including a Major League-best 16 since the All-Star break.
The Twins failed to add a starting pitcher before the trade deadline. But Cleveland really helped themselves by adding several players, including talented slugger outfielder Yasiel Puig.
Cleveland is second in the AL in pitching 3.64 ERA, while the Twins are fifth 4.16 ERA. Defensively, the Indians have committed 20 fewer errors than the Twins. The Twins have hit 228 home runs, Cleveland 155. The Twins are scoring a lot more runs 645 to Cleveland’s 515.
The Twins are 71-47 and so are the Indians. But with 44 games left a lot can still happen and there is a lot of baseball to be played.
However, if the Twins don’t win the Division it would be comparable in my view to the 1969 Cubs, and 1978 Boston Red Sox. Those are the greatest collapses in MLB history.
Larry Fitzgerald can be heard weekday mornings on KMOJ Radio 89.9 FM at 8:25 am, on WDGY-AM 740 Monday and Friday at 9:10 am, and at www.Gamedaygold.com. He also commentates on sports 7-8 pm on Almanac (TPT channel 2). Follow him on Twitter at FitzBeatSr. Larry welcomes reader responses to info@larry-fitzgerald.com or visit Larry-Fitzgerald.com