Reactions to the first series of the year

A common refrain in the first few weeks of the MLB season is “small sample size.” Pretty obviously this means we can’t read too much into statistics and player performances early in the year. The weird things that happen in baseball average out over 162 games, and in three games there’s just no way to accurately analyze how a team is doing. With all of that being said, I am still going to analyze how the Twins are doing based on a small sample size. It only means something if the early results are positive, though.

The Twins are right there with Cleveland.

Even in the one game that Cleveland took from the opening series, the Twins had the bases loaded in the 9th, only down by a run. At least right now, that shows us that they are competitive with the favorite to win the division. The offense exploded on Sunday for 9 runs against one of Cleveland’s best starters, and the starting pitching locked down their offense for the entire series (more on that later). If the Twins are able to keep up this success for more than just three games, we could be looking at a very tight race for the Central division.

WILLIANS ASTUDILLO IS THE GREATEST HITTER IN MLB HISTORY

Numbers don’t lie:

Willians Astudillo is currently batting 1.000 on the season after his two doubles yesterday. He even hit a 2 run sacrifice fly, flying out to center and driving in a run, with a second run scoring on an overthrow to third. Astudillo was only given one RBI because the second run scored on an error, but who cares? He ALSO made an alert defensive play, backing up an errant throw to first and throwing out Carlos Santana, who overran first base. I know it’s only one game, but just give him the AL MVP now.

The pitching staff looks GREAT.

José Berríos struck out ten batters, Jake Odorizzi struck out eleven, and Michael Pineda added five more in 4 scoreless innings. That’s a lot of strikeouts, and only one run allowed in 17 ²⁄₃ innings. The bullpen has been excellent as well, only allowing 5 more runs and striking out 13. Now, if they could only keep up this hot start for the rest of the season, then the Twins will probably win a lot of games. Just a guess.

We’re in first place!

The Twins are tied atop the AL Central with the Royals. This will absolutely remain the case for the entire season. No question about it.

The Twins are on pace to finish 108-54.

This one is just math. Minnesota has won two of three to begin the season. Should they continue to win two out of every three games, they will finish 108-54. That would be the best Twins season of all time. Again, numbers don’t lie.

Got any more wild overreactions to the opening series that you think I missed? Let me know in the comments!