After nearly half my life, the Twins are AL Central Champions again!

The Minnesota Twins are the 2019 American League Central Champions. I’m sitting here typing this with a jack-o-lantern grin on my face, and it doesn’t even feel real yet.

If you had told me on March 1st that I’d be here, typing this piece, tonight, I would’ve laughed at you. If someone had suggested the Twins would be in range of 100 wins with 4 games left, I would have called you crazy. And yet here we are. The 2019 Minnesota Twins have clinched the division title, largely due to their bullpen and their power hitting. The most wildly creative minds never would have scripted this story before the season.

One of my first memories as a baseball fan is the 2006 division champion squad walking the Metrodome warning track, high-fiving the fans. Since then, until today, I’ve only felt the baseball bliss I did then one other time: Game 163, 2009. Still the greatest Twins game I’ve ever watched. However, today, nine painful years since the last time the Twins seized the Central pennant, that pure baseball bliss is back, and boy is it ever sweet.

I was 11 years old the last time this happened. I spent the end of middle school, all of high school, and half of college watching the Twins come up short. This season has made all of the dreary Target Field summers worth it. Hot out of the gate, to the mild summer swoon, to the absolute joy of the fateful doubleheader against the bitter rivals, punctuated by Sano’s slam. And now today, with a Twins win and a Cleveland loss. The improbable Bomba Squad has erased 9 years of failure on the diamond, and here’s hoping they erase 19 years of failure in October.

Rocco, Rowson, Boomstick, Max, Mitch, Rosie, Jorge, Luis, Marwin, Miguel, Schoop, C.J., Buck, and Castro. Wes, La Makina, Taylor, Doof, Jake, Gibby, Randy, Smeltzer, Sergio, Littell, IAMTREVORMAY. Thad and Derek. These are your champions. And no matter what comes next, at least for me, they’ll live on forever.

P.S. Joe Mauer died so that the Twins could live

Do you feel the same as me? What are some of your favorite moments from a magical season? Give us your reactions below!