Game 89: Orioles at Twins

Time: 7:10 Central

Weather: Calm, dry, shady, perfect, 74° at first pitch

Opponent’s SB site: Camden Chat

TV: Apple (here’s how to select local audio). Radio: Why didn’t EA Sports name a game “Gladden”?

MLB team record for strikeouts: 1596. Twins’ current pace: 1637

Orioles lefty starter Cole Irvin nearly missed being a classmate of mine at Oregon, if I’d only attended 20 years later. The Athletic has a paywalled profile of Irvin and his hobby business, Swirvin Limited, yet looking at the Swirvin website is free. On it, Irvin says his nature is to be soft-spoken, like all wise men, and that one should never get too high nor too low. He also offers baseball lessons, and not just in pitching! Helpfully, the site states “I do provide my own baseballs for all hitting lessons.”

(I’m guessing the name Swirvin is a reference to 1980s/90s NASCAR driver Virgil Earnest Irvan, sometimes known as “Swervin’ Irvan” for his risky driving style. Cole Irvin does not, as yet, throw a “swerve.”)

Proving that, indeed, Irvan did live in Eugene, OR, the site also lists something called “GoodHempLivin” as a sponsor... although that site’s dead. In fact, it looks like Swirvin Limited is almost dead, but that’s no shame — most websites I’ve worked on are dead, too. (Others TBD.)

Irvin throws a 92-ish fastball, a sinker, slider, changeup and occasional cutter. None of them very effectively. Before this year, he was good at limiting walks, and now he’s really struggling with those. BUT the Twins have a woeful .667 OPS versus lefties, as they showed against Irvin on Sunday. Digits:

Well, the Twins’ long Bally nightmare is over — they’re gettin’ their money. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez ruled, basically, that Diamond Sports Group (they own the Bally Sports stations) has enough cash to pay the Twins, so they have to pay the Twins.

While it’s nice for the Twins to get their money, this means that the dream of ending blackout restrictions is dead.... for now. The Twins’ deal with Bally/Diamond ends after this season. Team president Dave St. Peter stated that Diamond offered to renew the deal through 2028, and the Twins said no.

(You do have to credit Diamond for making the offer; “hi, Dave, sorry about the court case and not paying you. So, ready, to believe we'll pay you in the future? Dave? Dave? I know everything hasn't been quite right with me, but I can assure you now very confidently that it's going to be all right again. I'm afraid, Dave.... I'm a.... fraid....”)

MLB has made it clear that teams are free to stream their own games if they want, and it’s quite possible the Twins will do this next season. The Padres are doing so right now, for $19.99 a month, and using all their usual sportscasters. Their package doesn’t include games on separate national broadcasts like Apple TV and Peacock Sunday Leadoff (which I didn’t know even existed before this week). But then again, traditional local cable packages didn’t include those games either.

While the Twins could go back to the cable-only deal with local blackouts, using a different network than Bally/Diamond, I don't think they will.

So, keep your fingers crossed, Twins fans in Minnesota! And Iowa! And the Dakotas! And even you, greater Hudson! Now, if we can only get those ridiculous local blackouts removed for baseball fans in Hawaii (covering EVERY team in California, that's pretty dumb).