As a kid growing up, my grandpa taught me how to be a sports fan, especially of the Minnesota Twins. I was lucky that when I was a kid, my team was the best in baseball by winning the World Series in 1987, and again in 1991. I grew up knowing that my team was competitive.
My team had one of the best executives in baseball in Andy McPhail, and legend-in-the-making manager in Tom Kelly. The team took risks with young players that turned out to be stars. Players like Kent Hrbek, Gary Gaetti, Tom Brunansky, and Kirby Puckett. Those teams were special. The fact that a small market baseball team won it all twice in four years, it was great for the state of Minnesota, and great for the sport of baseball.
The unfortunate part for me, is that my team is always a rollercoaster. That small market label has always haunted the Minnesota Twins and their fans alike. Sometimes, it hurt because it wasn't a major market with the fullest exposure, but what hurt the most was the fact that sometimes it was used as an excuse.
To go with exciting times of the Minnesota Twins, like the 15 game winning streak during that magical 1991 season, there have been many, and I mean many times, where being a fan not only hurt, but it stung. The mid-1990s teams were painfully awful and it was hard to watch. Year after year, it as the same story. The only positive was that you could go to a game for dirt cheap. And by that, I mean like $1.00 per ticket cheap. Unfortunately you had to watch the game on indoor/outdoor green carpet that was on top of concrete.
In 2001, Tom Kelly decided to step down as manager and Ron Gardenhire took the helm. In the few years after, the magic appeared to be back as another crop of young talent appeared to be ready for a run. Players like Torii Hunter, Corey Koskie, and Doug Mientkiewicz were taking the Minnesota Twins to the spotlight once again.
The team with these players took the Twins to multiple division titles, but unfortunately no championships. To the fans of Minnesota, this was acceptable because our team was competitive again, and they had a chance.
The last four years of Ron Gardenhire's tenure as manager resulted in four straight seasons of 90+ losses and it indicated a time for change. Ron Gardenhire was fired after the 2014 season, and Paul Molitor took the helm as the new leader. In Paul Molitor's first season as manager in 2015, there was a spark that caused many fans to think that maybe there was a chance to be competitive once again. The team was chasing a wild card playoff spot all the way until the final week of the regular season. Unfortunately, they came up just short in their attempt to make the playoffs for the first time in five years.
Coming into the 2016 season, the hope was high. The Twins had young talent that could once again bring the Twins to the top. Players like Miguel Sano, Byron Buxton, and Eduardo Nunez. The Twins had a good Spring Training in 2016, which continued to cause fans and sportscasters alike predicting a possible division title run for the Twins. Then the regular season started.
The start of the season was bad. It was real bad. The pitching was weak, the offense was invisible, and the defense was playing like a junior high C squad team just learning the game. It wasn't a slow start that would be overcome either. Starting pitchers like Kyle Gibson and Ervin Santana were not pitching that bad, it is just that they not only didn't have run support, but they struggled to get even any hit support. This season is just a couple of games from being completed and the Twins are at 103 losses. They are just three games away from tying their worst season in franchise history. How the Twins can go from competing for a wild card spot a year ago to complete disaster is beyond me. What the Twins do once the season is over is anyone's guess. With perhaps the most beautiful ballpark in all of Major League Baseball, they have to find a solution quick! This team can not afford to rebuild AGAIN, because we have been rebuilding for six years already. The fans are disappearing by the hundreds.
I love my team. I will be a Minnesota Twins fan for life. I just want this fixed now. Us fans deserve some spending to fix this quick.
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