As the dog days of August 2015 came to a close, the Minnesota Twins looked to be falling out of the playoff race—even Wild Card contention. The early season mega-optimism had seemingly given way to regression to the mean.
But then, an amazing thing happened…
From late-August into early-September, the ‘15 Twins ripped off a 10-2 stretch—vaulting them back into the Wild Card hunt (the KC Royals were running away with the Central)!
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Hope had been renewed for the home stretch!
But then—another stumble: five consecutive losses in mid-September looked to again drop the surprising Twins from postseason contention.
I wasn’t giving up—but things looked grim.
Yet, the rollercoaster would still continue clacking: an 8-3 run in late September!!! There was that “white-hot winning play” referenced above!
Heading into the 2015 season’s final weekend, the Twins found themselves a single game behind the Houston Astros (surprise, surprise—although it very much was back in ‘15) in the race for the final Wild Card slot.
The final obstacle: a 3-game Target Field series with the eventual World Series champion Royals. Despite jumping out to a lead in Game 1 and getting a gem—7 IP, 2 ER—from Ervin Santana, the Twins crashed out versus the Crowns, 3-1.
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Game 161 was also meaningful—but again heartbreaking: Not Mommy Tilone Tommy Milone, Blaine Boyer, nor Neal Cotts could do much from the mound—5-1 KC.
Game 162 would be the only meaningless contest of 2015 for our Twins.
One could argue that 2015 was one of the most exciting and important seasons of Twins baseball ever played. After the 2011-2014 doldrums, this winning bunch brought an energy back to the ballpark—whether Twinkle Toes Torii or Bashing Brian—that revitalized interest in the franchise.
They simply came one game short of extending the fun into spooky season.
