Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Minnesota Twins: 2020 World Series Simulation

In the end, for the Minnesota twins, it was all about power pitching and power-hitting.

Having failed in two opportunities to wrap up the World Series win, the Minnesota Twins fell back on a tried-and-true recipe in Game 7: good pitching and distance slugging.

Facing Price at Target Field, Buxton jump-started Minnesota’s plan with a first-inning blast over the left-field wall good for a 1-0 lead. One inning later, Garver singled, Kepler doubled him to third and Jake Cave’s roller to the right side got him home with a second run.

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By that point Twins starter Jake Odorizzi had already survived his own moments of peril. He opened the game by surrendering a base hit to Betts, who stole second and took third on Seager’s single. Then Odorizzi settled down the Target Field patrons – and likely himself as well – striking out Bellinger and Pederson and retiring Turner on a lazy pop up to second.

In the second, the trouble came after the first two batters were retired. Enrique Hernandez walked, Federowicz laced a base hit to left and Betts walked, filling the bases. But Seager tapped a one-hopper back to Odorizzi for the inning-killer.

In the third, LA made a final try at damaging Odorizzi when Pederson sent a one-out double off the wall in right. But Turner and Muncy both went out, leaving Pederson stuck at second.

Through three innings, the Los Angeles Dodgers had left six runners on base, four of them in scoring position, while six times failing to drive those runners home. They also trailed 3-0.

Those were all the chances Odorizzi was in a mood to offer. Between the fourth and eighth innings, he plowed through the Dodger lineup at a cost of one base on balls, running his strikeout count to 13.

Meanwhile, the Twins gradually, inexorably, made life miserable for Price. Donaldson homered in the fifth, Garver homered in the sixth, and then in the bottom of the eighth, a Muncy error led to a fifth Twins run.

By the ninth inning, Minnesota sitting securely to a 5-0 lead, the only question was whether Odorizzi could complete a game 7 shutout. He couldn’t. After striking out Turner, he made a mistake to Muncy, who hit it into the right-field bullpen. Beaty followed with a double before Hernandez popped to Garver behind the plate and Will Smith, batting for Federowicz, lifted a routine fly that Kepler caught for the Series-ending out.

Game 7 turned out to be the least dramatic of the set. But the Twins were deserving winners. They out-scored the Dodgers 31-23, out-hit them 55-46, and out-homered them 10-6. At times, more importantly, they also played better defense. Dodger fielders committed nine errors in the seven games, accounting for nine unearned Twins runs. Twins fielders only committed four errors, and they led to just two Dodger runs.

Byron Buxton was voted World Series MVP. Buxton had nine hits – two of them home runs – in 30 at-bats for a .300 batting average. He also produced a .944 OPS. His leadoff home run in the seventh game was a pivotal moment, as were critical at-bats in late-inning rallies in the second and third game Twins victories.

Los Angeles        000    000    001   —  1  6  2

Minnesota          110    011    01      —  5  8  0

W: Odorizzi. L: Price.