First Pitch: 1:10 pm CDT

TV: Bally Sports North / ~ / Radio: TIBN

Meet the new Mets, same as the old Mets.

(Unless, of course, you’re talking about the Old MET, in which case, no, Steve Cohen’s hired guns are not a 1:1 replica of the Twins’ first stadium in Bloomington.)

New York — a game and a half removed from the cellar of the NL East — has had a well-documented disappointment of a season. Last night, we saw glimpses of why, as an offense once again made Dallas Keuchel look like his Cy Young self, and a defense paid their best tribute to the 2022 Detroit Tigers.

The magic number sits at 15 this morning, with the Angels having fallen to Cleveland later on Friday. In hopes of combining to lower it to a 13, just in time for spooky season, the Twins will deploy Kenta Maeda for his 18th start of the season.

The Twins are sitting pretty. The wins are starting to stack up, with a fair amount coming against good teams. Carlos Correa homered last night, as part of a September stretch where 14 of his 25 balls in play have left the bat at 100+ mph. Minnesota is 5-1 in Dallas Keuchel starts. Royce Lewis is hitting the griddy. Things are good.

For the first time in a while, September is feeling all right. The 2020 shortened season, and Minnesota’s ensuing underperformance in subsequent seasons, has skewed perspective a bit. (The Twins had a share of first last September, but we all know how that went.)

Even though 2021 was just the second season of the Falvey era where Minnesota wasn’t competitive late in the year, it’s still been four calendar cycles between the Twins and their last full-season Central championship, and the first that fans could enjoy in person. That’s a long time coming, especially for a team who’s had a near-complete core turnover since that Bomba Squad year.

That September baseball feeling is certainly in the air — with every day, we get closer to the crushing, anxious reality of your favorite team playing in October.

But first, work to be done.

GO TWINS GO!