When the Detroit Tigers last played the Minnesota Twins, in a three-game series at Comerica Park about seven weeks ago, the Twins were in complete disarray and appeared headed for a disaster of a season.
Tigers Vs. Twins Series Preview: Tight AL Central Could Get Tighter
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The Tigers swept the series and dumped the Twins to their low point of the 2011 season: 17-37, 20 games under .500 and 16.5 games out of first place. Detroit, five games out of first place at the time behind the Cleveland Indians, has treaded water since that series, going 22-20, but they've made up the entire deficit and stand tied with the Tribe for the top spot in the AL Central at 51-46.
The Twins, though, have been 29-14 since that sweep, the second-best record in the major leagues during that time (only the Red Sox at 29-11 are better) and have made up more than two-thirds of their division deficit; they open tonight's four-game set at Target Field in Minneapolis just five games out of first place, though still trailing not only the Tigers and Indians, but the erratic White Sox, who keep hanging in the race while muddling around the .500 mark, currently four games under.
Thus, the Twins, if they can sweep the Tigers -- and Minnesota is 19-7 at home since June 1 -- would move to within one game of them, though perhaps not to within one game of first place, as the Indians could keep hold by defeating the White Sox in a series in Cleveland this weekend.
So despite their horrific start, with more than two months to go it’s still possible that the Twins -- who have been in the postseason six of the last nine years under manager Ron Gardenhire -- could make the playoffs. What you may not realize is that this would make baseball history. No team that has been 20 games under .500 has ever recovered to make the postseason.
In the divisional-play era, the team with the worst record to make the playoffs -- the 2005 Padres -- were never more than four games under .500. The 1973 Mets, who won the NL East at 82-79, were 13 games under on Aug. 17; the 1984 Royals, AL West titlists at 84-78, bottomed out at 11 games below breakeven on July 18. The 2005 Astros were 15-30 on May 24 and wound up in the World Series. Even the famed 1914 Miracle Braves, who came from last place on July 4 to run away with the NL pennant at 94-59, were never worse than 16 games under .500
So the Twins can make history this year. They’ll try to do it starting tonight, with a tough pitching matchup. Here are all the matchups for the series:
Thursday: Justin Verlander vs. Carl Pavano
Friday: Max Scherzer vs. Brian Duensing
Saturday: Brad Penny vs. Scott Baker
Sunday: Rick Porcello vs. Francisco Liriano
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