In '09, interleague play is good - but not as great - to Twins

by Jon Marthaler on Jun 29, 2009 1:00 PM EDT in Events Comment 6 comments

The Twins went 12-6 in interleague play this year, taking five of six from Milwaukee and winning series with Pittsburgh, Chicago, and St. Louis - and dropping a series to Houston. Only Tampa Bay (13-5) and Anaheim (14-4) won as many games as the Twins.

Pretty good - but not quite like previous years. Heck, the Twins only picked up two games on first-place Detroit over the interleague portion of the schedule, and depending on the result of a makeup game between the Chicago teams, Minnesota may finish dead even with the White Sox this year.

It's not like 2008, when the Twins were a major-league best 14-4. Or 2006, when they were a ridiculous 16-2 (though they picked up just one game on Detroit, which put a 15-3 hurting on the National League as well.)

All-time, the Twins are 132-96 (.578) in interleague play. Only the Yankees (133-95) have a better record since interleague play was introduced in 1997.

If you'll cast your mind back to late 1997, you might remember that Milwaukee wasn't the owners' first choice to switch from the American League to the National League. Kansas City was offered the first option, but declined. The Brewers were the second choice - but the Twins (who were also in danger of moving to North Carolina that fall) were third choice.

Seeing how they've fared since against the Senior Circuit, it does kind of make you wonder.

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Hey Jon, I think we dropped the series to Houston 1-2, but beat out Pittsburgh 2-1.

by Twins Limey on Jun 29, 2009 1:31 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

My bad

You’re right, I had those backwards. Serves me right for trusting my memory.

by Jon Marthaler on Jun 29, 2009 2:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hmmmm

I don’t like the designated hitter rule, so it would’ve been neat to see the Twins play actual 9-man baseball all these years, as well as getting to see the Cubs and Cards a bunch of times a year (I became a baseball fan watching Cubs games on WGN and have always liked them).

It would be interesting to think about how differently the roster would’ve been constructed the last few years without the DH. Kubel may not have been retained, the loss of Ortiz would’ve been less controversial, Mauer would either hit less often or get even fewer days off (since they couldn’t put him at DH twice a week)… interesting stuff.

"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

by BeefMaster on Jun 29, 2009 2:20 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Mauer probably would’ve changed positions by now

Son, when you participate in sporting events, it's not whether you win or lose: it's how drunk you get. ~Homer Simpson

by thewild_viking_twins on Jun 29, 2009 2:42 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Nah

He has 2310 plate appearances as a catcher and 279 as a DH in his career.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Jun 29, 2009 2:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

i'll take it

especially if we can treat KC like an NL team in this next series…i’d take 2 out of 3 happily and would be THRILLED with a sweep leading into the detroit series. interleague play always has this way of making me think we have a shot at the postseason…

by dctwin on Jun 29, 2009 3:00 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs