Earlier this year, I teased Sports Journalist Zach Koenig’s role at the University of Minnesota-Morris campus newspaper previewing the 2005 Minnesota Twins with positive puff pieces and somber remembrances.
That same intrepid reporter crafted a story with a headline eerily prescient of our two-decades-later bunch. Per Mark Twain: “History doesn’t repeat itself—but it often rhymes”.
Grid View
Change one number in that headline and it could run in today’s Minnesota Tribune.
Written from my sophomore dorm, that article compared the ‘05 squad with the remarkable World Series champion 1906 Chicago White Sox. That year the South Siders had…
.230 team BA, .588 OPS, & 87 OPS+
No single player with more than 2 home runs
Granted, it helps to only need eight pitchers all year long and have four of them win 17+ games & pitch 220+ innings. But still—it was exceedingly improbable even in the Dead Ball Era to take home a title with such teeny offensive tabulations.
Probably good that pitcher Ed Walsh was featured on this ‘06 CWS promo postcard
Meanwhile, the 2005 Twins weren’t faring all that much better…
.259 team BA, .714 OPS, & 88 OPS+
No single batter over .274 BA
Only Jacque Jones (23) & Justin Morneau (22) with 20+ HR
No single batter recorded 30 doubles
This was a year in which Ron Gardenhire gave 159 PA to the .539 OPS Terry Tiffee.
Terry Tiffee, anyone?
Photo by Sporting News via Getty Images/Sporting News via Getty Images via Getty Images
I won’t completely spoil the ending of ‘05 because more coverage is to come, but suffice it to say they didn’t weasel a trophy out of their offensive ineptitude like the ought-six Sox (an ironic statement for what did happen to close out 2005).
How does this all compare with our ‘25 compatriots? Heading into the Cincinnati series…
.242 team BA, .700 OPS, 95 OPS+
Only Byron Buxton & Trevor Larnach on solid pace for 20+ HR
Only Ryan Jeffers & Carlos Correa on solid pace for 30+ 2B
In all honesty, those numbers were better than I anticipated—if still below league average overall. But hey—Ty France leads MLB in HBP. So that’s something.
The Ty France speciality
Photo by Matt Krohn/Getty Images
This middle-of-the-pack offense certainly doesn’t pass the eye test. Perhaps this is due to unfortunate sequencing—when the offense shows life the starters/bullpen collapse; when the SP/RP buckle down the bats turn to brooms.
One interesting note: in 33 night games the Twins have a 118 OPS+. In 38 day games, thatt drops to 84 OPS+. Perhaps everyone needs velocity slaps & Red Bull, not just bullpeners…
Any way you slice it, this team will need to swing the bats with more swagger to jump back into the legitimate AL playoff picture. That is true now more than ever with Pablo Lopez & Zebby Matthews on the shelf & Bailey Ober working through a hip problem. Does the current roster have the talent to turn things around? We’ll find out over the next 3+ months.