The Playground

After losing 18 straight playoff games, “hope” should be a foreign concept to Twins fans. So why do they still believe?

By Leo Pomerenke

As I walked into Target Field on an unseasonably warm October day, I got a lingering feeling I haven’t felt in a long time: “Hope.” 

It can be a dangerous thing. I routinely got it whenever the Vikings, Wild or Timberwolves got into the playoffs. But as time has gone on, I realized there’s one thing each of those teams have in common: they’ve never won a championship.

The Twins are a different story.

Fans like my father witnessed the local MLB team win the World Series in 1987 and 1991. Besides the Minneapolis Lakers, who last won an NBA Championship in 1954 before moving to Los Angeles, no other professional sports team in this state has won a championship except the Twins. 

With each passing year, and no Minnesota team winning a championship, it makes ‘87 and ‘91 that much more special for those who witnessed it. For those in my generation who didn’t, playoff success can only be read in the history books. 

In fact, the last Twins playoff victory came in 2004, when I was only two years old. As my father sipped his whiskey coke, and I sipped my milk bottle, we sat on the couch and watched the Twins get a close 2-0 Game 1 win against the vaunted New York Yankees.

The Twins went on to lose the next three games in that series to kickstart an 18 game playoff losing streak, a North American professional sports record. 

With playoff losses piling up in 2004, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2017, 2019 and 2020, it made ‘87 and ‘91 feel that much more distant. 

However, there’s a reason why “hope” was alive in 2023. The Twins pitching has been the best it’s been in 20 years, led by Cy Young Award candidate Pablo Lopez, who would start today’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays. 

There’s also an impactful rookie named Royce Lewis, who in 66 career games, hit an MLB record five grand slams. He has a flair for the dramatic, which fans like myself hoped would come in handy for today’s game. 

This team was different than the teams of old, that’s why this thing called “hope” was in the air. 

With fans waving their Homer Hankies, a traditional playoff towel given out at each Twins home playoff game since ‘87, Lewis went up to bat in the bottom of the first with one man on base. 

With three balls and two strikes, Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman threw a fastball that lit up Lewis’ eyes when he saw it. 

I knew it was gone from the crack of the bat. As the ball flew through the air, the crowd lost its mind. Lewis flipped his bat, yelling “I’m him!” to his teammates in the dugout as the ball bounced off of the overhang in left field for a two-run home run to put the Twins on the board 2-0. 

I’ve been to lots of Twins games over the years, but Lewis’ home run is the loudest I’ve ever heard the crowd at Target Field. His home run made young battle-scarred fans like myself believe that a win in October can be possible.

As soon as Lewis went up to bat again in the third inning, everyone got out of their seats. As a replay of his dramatic home run ran on the jumbotron, everyone in the ballpark was expecting something special. 

“Wouldn’t it be awesome if he hit another one?” I told my friend who sat next to me. 

As if on queue, Lewis smashed another fastball, this time to right field. The crowd was somehow even louder the second time as Royce rounded the bases. 3-0 Twins. 

After that, fans reacted to every pitch the rest of the game in nervous anticipation. The Blue Jays would only score one run the rest of the game to clinch a 3-1 Twins playoff victory, the first in 19 years. 

The Twins would end up winning the Wild Card Series against Toronto, their first playoff series win since 2002. 

After what seems like a lifetime, the Twins have finally proved they can win in the playoffs. Sure, they’d end up losing to the Houston Astros in the American League Division Series, but fans weren’t as disappointed as we were in years past. 

Once again, on to next season. But with getting over the hump of winning in the playoffs, the Twins and their long-suffering fans can finally aim for something higher: a World Series Championship.