Monday Morning Minnesota: Down but not out Edition

Previously on Twinkie Town:

• Joey numbers went upon a totally serious pursuit to find if the Yankees have a real weakness. Is it time travel? Is it eating food after midnight? I’m not saying the entire Yankee roster isn’t a horde of gremlins standing atop one another to pretend to be humans, but can we really be sure they aren’t?
• Zach looks back at what he calls “The greatest Twins game of the last decade.” Spoilers: It wasn’t one of the last two.
• Yo, I know you are all itching to relive Saturday night, so make sure to read Brandon’s recap if you haven’t.
• Also itakecareofhamstersforaliving has you covered if you specifically want to replay the most damning moments in your head over and over. Thanks, pal!
• Chin up, buckaroos. This season I’ve taken to practicing optimism (in sports and sports only because hahahaha how do functional people even function?) and its vastly improved how much I enjoy watching baseball. HOPE NEVER DIES! (Unless we lose later today, then hope does actually die.)

Elsewhere in Twins Territory:

• Look guys, I want to link fun and happy stuff and be a silly goof but right now all I can really find is how the Twins got destroyed again, just like always, oh boy this sucks, this really needs to stop. Hey did you know the Yankees had a lot of injuries to key players, unlike other teams who certainly did not have injuries to key players? Did you know the Yankees are relentless, unlike...every other baseball team in the history of the sport that’s been in a playoff series?
• Here’s some Yankee fans being trash so you can feel morally superior.

I hate that I know multiple Yankee fans who are amazing and kind and sweet humans whom I love, because now I can’t flatly despise them as some sort of unhealthy but ultimately (mostly) harmless form of tribal xenophobia.

• MLBTR has a poll and write up about if the Twins should throw a qualifying offer Jake Odorizzi’s way. I would say yes, and it looks like most people agree. Either way there is a very good chance the Twins rotation looks mighty different next spring.

Around The World in Bases and Balls:

• Per the LA Times, both the MLB and the players union seem up for modifying baseball’s drug policies. We should be seeing (and rightly so) lesser or no punishment for marijuana usage, as well as some kind of regular testing for opiods. The opiod thing comes at the end of a season that saw Angel’s pitcher Tyler Skaggs die in part from said drugs, and it seems in everyone’s best interest to deter their use as best they can. (Though I might bring up that maybe we should work on changing the culture that demands so much of players they require huge amounts of pain killers to simply get through a season.)
• To escape the throws of playoff doom, here’s a Hardball Times piece on the Eastern Women’s Baseball League, a reason that I now want to live in the Baltimore-D.C area.
• Baseball is fun! Don’t forget!

Today’s soundtrack is from Crash Bandicoot 2, my favorite of the Crash Bandicoots. This weekend I learned that I am really bad at Crash Bandicoot how did I ever beat these as a kid?

Have a good’n! I’ll see you at *checks notes* ugh, 7:40 PM? That’s too late for heartbreak.