The Minnesota Twins are in first place over the division rival Indians, and are just one game behind the league’s best Tampa Bay Rays. So why are they getting zero attention?
The Minnesota Twins are currently holding onto a 15-9 record; the kind of record that you would expect to get national attention.
They have one of the league’s best hitters in shortstop Jorge Polanco. He is slashing .341/.396/.637 and is the first player this season to hit for the cycle.
Recent offseason pickup Nelson Cruz is also doing his fair share, slashing .314/.422/.600 with five home runs and 15 RBI.
Add to it an ace of the staff in Jose Berrios. Berrios has dominated in six starts with a 4-1 record, 41 strikeouts, an opposing batting average of .208, a WHIP below 1.00 and a 2.97 ERA.
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Those three alone should be able to garner enough attention to a team that is just one game behind the Tampa Bay Rays and a half-game ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Right?
Well, there is an inherent problem with the Twins that is no fault of their own, but of the league that aims to support them. That is, they are not getting the support and attention they should be.
There are roadblocks ahead of the Twins. The first being the larger market teams like the Dodgers and the Yankees and Red Sox and Phillies etc. Even when those teams are bad, they get all the attention in the world because a majority of the population is east-coast focused.
The focus is on the east coast because it happens first. And once the east coast is ‘done for the day’, the focus is lost and everyone calls it a night. This hurts some west coast teams but mostly the middle America teams.
It is additionally shocking because Minnesota is a major-sports market with the Vikings, Wild, and Timberwolves. They even have a WNBA team in the Lynx and a Major League Soccer team in Minnesota United FC.
So given how well the Twins are doing, how come they are not the headliner? Aside from not getting the immediate media attention, they have nothing to them that has been overly attention grabbing.
But that’s a good thing.
What grabs media attention these days? Controversy.
If there was controversy with the Twins, wouldn’t we have heard about it by now? All we really know is the team’s record and that Polanco hit for the cycle. That’s it.
Here’s why you should be giving the Twins your audience. This is as exciting a team as the Rays right now.
They have a unique roster led by Polanco, Eddie Rosario, and Berrios. Three guys still in their twenties that have propelled their team forward in what has become a contested AL Central.
This team’s true excitement and entertainment factor has come from catcher Willians Astudillo, who pimped home runs he hit during the winter.
Willians Astudillo may have broken every single one of baseball's unwritten rules on one home run 🤣 pic.twitter.com/LD6e73C1Eh
— ESPN (@espn) January 9, 2019
They made underrated offseason acquisitions like Cruz, Marwin Gonzalez, and Jonathan Schoop and put their faith in Trevor May to help lead the bullpen.
The Minnesota Twins have been doing just about everything they can to garner the attention of baseball savants and fans alike. It’s time you give them the respect they deserve.