Bomba Squad
July 27, 2019 2:02 PM   Subscribe

The Minnesota Twins have reached 200 home runs in just 103 games this season. The previous record was held by the 2005 Texas Rangers who took 122 games to reach 200.
posted by soelo (25 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
Seems the Twins have nailed the "three true outcomes"

[Go Giants!]
posted by chavenet at 2:36 PM on July 27, 2019 [1 favorite]


Baseball is a pretty silly game already when you think about it. Data optimized to the Three True Outcomes version, it seems even sillier. Makes the idea of it evolving into something like Blernsball less comical than prophetic.

To save it as a live spectator sport, owners wisely seem to be renovating baseball parks into oversized sportsbars or gastropubs where people can drink and socialize for a few hours while the game itself is a poorly edited highlight reel playing on a lifesize television screen in the background. Don't forget to extend the protective netting.
posted by klenwell at 2:55 PM on July 27, 2019


** Paging Gray Duck to the White Courtesy Phone **

Oh, it's real, folks. I don't think that the sports world has really grokked that the Twins are a force to be reckoned with this year. When I’m at the gym watching ESPN, they’re still just talking about the Yankees and Dodgers and the other perennial favorites…and every once in a while, the commentators will do a short piece on “…and the Minnesota Twins! Are they for real?”

For the majority of (non-Minnesotan) sports fans, this year’s team came out of nowhere. Just a bunch of unknowns, really. But the Twins have been developing talent on the farm for half a decade. When we were losing 90, 100+ games a season at the majors, our farm teams were winning championships. We knew that one of these days we’d be seeing Kepler, Sanó, Buxton, and Berriós come up and when they did… it was going to be fun to be a Twins fan again.

We also had several awesome trades and acquisitions in the offseason: Schoop, Nelson Cruz, CJ Cron. The Twins have had an awful track record with trades so it’s been fantastic to see these guys work out. Most importantly, we have a new manager – Rocco Baldelli – who really seems to be turning things around. It’s a little weird that there is a MLB manager that is younger than me (and a Phish fan) but it seems like he’s doing great things.

And don’t forget that we also have freakin’ LA TORTUGA Willians Astudillo, who is the single oddest player (statistically and perhaps personally) in the league, and is here to save baseball. (click through from facebook link to bypass WSJ firewall). Patron saint of the short/fat/weird kids, he almost never strikes out and never walks. The guy can hit anything…and if needed, he can run. And he’s hilarious. Right now he’s on the Injured List, I can’t wait for his return.

And all of the guys I mentioned above (except for Berrios, who is a pitcher) can hit. They can ALL hit, and they can all hit the long ball. People say “well the baseballs are totally juiced this year” – which is roundly agreed upon to be a true thing – but the baseballs are juiced for EVERY team, not just the Twins. We’ve just finally got some good hitters and a good manager who is letting them hit.
posted by Gray Duck at 3:07 PM on July 27, 2019 [19 favorites]


Sorry about the essay. We Twins fans haven't had a lot to get excited about for a while.
posted by Gray Duck at 3:32 PM on July 27, 2019 [9 favorites]


Not a fair comparison, the ball is juiced and even the players are talking about it.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 4:01 PM on July 27, 2019 [1 favorite]


An even more extreme home run record of a kind that dare not speak its name — OK, maybe it's only a little bashful — has just gone into the books.

The Mariners played a game today in which neither they or their opponents hit a home run, their first such game in the last 108.

The previous record for consecutive games by a single team in which one side or the other hit a home run was 59; the new record is 107.
posted by jamjam at 4:24 PM on July 27, 2019 [1 favorite]


The Twins and Minn. State Fair food? Is it Minnesota day here? Because we've already had recent threads about Rep. Omar, Al Franken and Prince, MST3K is well represented at FanFare, and all that's left are Garrison Keillor, Jesse Ventura and the Vikings.
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:25 PM on July 27, 2019 [2 favorites]


Do not speak of the Vikings. It will doom the thread to an unending hellish torture, a bleak and relentless existence that will corrupt even the stoutest of souls.
posted by Ber at 4:29 PM on July 27, 2019 [2 favorites]


Somewhere, Karl-Anthony Towns weeps a single tear.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 5:02 PM on July 27, 2019 [3 favorites]


To be fair, no previous team has gotten to bat against the 2019 Orioles.
posted by escabeche at 5:25 PM on July 27, 2019 [7 favorites]


an unending hellish torture, a bleak and relentless existence that will corrupt even the stoutest of souls.

But we already had last winter and spring extended winter.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:30 PM on July 27, 2019


Baseball is a pretty silly game already when you think about it. Data optimized to the Three True Outcomes version, it seems even sillier.

All sports are silly. And the idea that baseball has been mathematically figured out to the Three True Outcomes in any meaningful way should be taken with a large grain of salt. Baseball is starting to settle into the analytics-era, and it will develop and pass on to a new era at some point in the future, same as it has before. 3TO isn't a fad, or not meaningful, but after 5 or 10 or 15 years of young players focusing on succeeding within that framework instead of another one, what does the league look like? Is it still a dinger-fest even next year, after what I'm sure will be a hurried off-season of roster changes? What does it look like when there aren't so many teams rebuilding or in disarray? (escabeche, on preview)

Remember, the people who were grumpy about analytics not being taken seriously by the MLB are the same people taking over jobs from aging and stodgy front office and media people. They are in fact tooting their own horn a bit, which is deserved, but it can't last. The dying laugh of the old 'pitch full games, bunt and steal and be gritty' type will be that baseball is not in fact a math problem to solve.
posted by neonrev at 5:34 PM on July 27, 2019


Baseball is a pretty silly game already when you think about it.

All games are silly. What kind of a comment is this?
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 7:07 PM on July 27, 2019 [2 favorites]


All games are silly. What kind of a comment is this? A silly one
posted by Gray Duck at 7:27 PM on July 27, 2019 [4 favorites]


All games are silly. What kind of a comment is this?

Of all the silly games on this planet, baseball might as well be one of the top silly walks from The Ministery of Silly Walks where one of the only known sillier walks from The Ministery of Silly Walks is the game loosely known as Test Cricket.

This is also a very silly comment.

Disclaimer: This comment is directly sponsored by The Ministry of Silly Walks.

Disclaimer-disclaimer: This comment is so silly that it contains no intentional puns. Walk it off.
posted by loquacious at 7:38 PM on July 27, 2019


Any ideas on how long it takes for MLB to change the balls back?
posted by Fukiyama at 7:59 PM on July 27, 2019


What's really impressive is that the Twins pulled off this feat with Harmon Killebrew having been dead for more than eight years.
posted by non canadian guy at 8:04 PM on July 27, 2019 [1 favorite]


The Twins are so fun to watch, though I wish my A's had done better than split the last series against them. I'm excited to be going to Minneapolis in early September though when they play Cleveland's team, fingers crossed it's an exciting game for the division. Food recommendations welcome!
posted by Carillon at 12:42 AM on July 28, 2019


Food recommendations welcome!

The real key recommendation w/r/t going to Target Field is don't drive. After the game, stay at one of the hotels connected to the Skyway system in downtown Minneapolis. That way, you won't feel that completely understandable pressure to leave the game early on account of the blazing hellscape that downtown interstate traffic will become.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 3:33 AM on July 28, 2019 [2 favorites]


I don't think baseball is silly. I think the people who run baseball are silly.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 6:41 AM on July 28, 2019 [2 favorites]


Food recommendations welcome!

As we learned during the 18-inning marathon against the rays a couple weeks ago, Bat & Barrel serves for the entire game which is kinda important to sit through EIGHTEEN INNINGS of baseball.
posted by nathan_teske at 9:48 AM on July 28, 2019 [1 favorite]


The funny thing to me about this is that they don't have anyone on pace for even 50 home runs, and although they've got two guys near the top of the AL leaderboard, they're both pretty far back from Trout in absolute terms. I guess for this sort of achievement, you don't need absolutely elite power guys so much as 10 or more guys who could hit 25. When your backup catcher and super-utility-man are both in double digits before August, that's when you know you're in good position to set a team home run record or two.
posted by Copronymus at 9:50 AM on July 28, 2019


There are several online food guides to Target Field. Burger fiends love Red Barn, my wife favors the Tony Olivia Cuban sandwich. For brats/sausage see Kramarczuk’s.

My wife asked me once why I like the Twins better than the Vikings. One reason (besides liking baseball better than football), is that the Vikings have given me nothing but heartache and misery whereas at least during the reign of St Puckett, the Twins took two World Series.

I have spent far too long in the wilderness though. The last several seasons have been brutal with crippling decisions from the front office, indifferent players (except for St Mauer), and a disconnected ownership. But it is finally coming together again, with just a few pieces missing in terms of pitching. Last night they picked up a vet for the bullpen, but need one more. They were in talks with the Mets regarding acquiring Thor (the Sons of Norway in small towns across Twins Territory would shit themselves in joy) but the Mets got too greedy wanting the two top prospects. Still, another starter would be nice. As the series with the Yankees proved, this lineup can go toe to toe with the cream of the league if only the bullpen holds up.

Whatever happens in the post-season, I'm enjoying the Bomba Squad. The Mighty Sano has found his groove and that is frightening for any pitcher in the AL. Four home runs today against the White Sox. Cleveland has drawn nothing but punching bags for the last month and a half, their season will now turn to something far darker and colder while the Twins take on a lot of the same punching bags Cleveland faced. The future looks bright for this squad.
posted by Ber at 7:07 PM on July 28, 2019


As we learned during the 18-inning marathon against the rays a couple weeks ago, Bat & Barrel serves for the entire game which is kinda important to sit through EIGHTEEN INNINGS of baseball.

How was the 14th inning stretch?
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:43 AM on July 29, 2019


their season will now turn to something far darker and colder

Eh, maybe, tough stretch coming up with series vs. Astros, Red Sox, Yankees and lots of games with the Twins left, but other than that it's pretty much punching bags. We'll be ok. Should be interesting though.
posted by e1c at 8:55 AM on July 29, 2019


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