Sort-Of, Kind-Of In Command

The Twins have the misfortune of being at the head of a long train of people trying to nab that last Wild Card spot. They're sitting on it right now, but they're also not too far from the Angels and Orioles. Meanwhile, the Rays, Mariners, Royals and Rangers aren't technically out of it yet, but unless they make a major push, they will be. And the Blue Jays, Athletics, Tigers and White Sox...yeah, they kinda have no shot. Just wanted to include them.

So yeah, the Twins, while they've come so far this season and have built a surprisingly nice team, need to come even further in order to avoid the slowly building Angels and suddenly surging Orioles. We should only point out that this barrage of Wild Card teams is only a game away from the Yankees at their first spot. It's implied that they're going to hold onto it, but...we can't really imply anything in baseball.

So, the Twins...yeah, the Twins are doing alright. They've hit 70 wins, and have come further than anybody would have thought they would back when the season started. The youth movement has mixed well with the veterans that they'd been stockpiling, and Byron Buxton, Jose Berrios and Miguel Sano FINALLY decided to start having nice seasons. This is also the year where Bartolo Colon made the rotation and Chris Gimenez switched from catcher to pitcher, and Kyle Gibson limped along after signing a baseball with a bible scripture for a certain baseball card blogger of another faith. It's been strange, but they've managed to outdo the odds and win a ton of truly tough matches.

The question remains as to whether they'll end up making it to the Wild Card game...and if they do, whether or not they'll have any effect on the postseason. Remember, the WC winner has to play the first seed, which, right now, is the Astros, and the way they're playing, I don't think anybody WANTS to. So the Twins will need to man up and become a truly great club if they do make it through the WC race.

Coming Tonight: A solid rookie for the Pirates, who, despite not really being anywhere near contention, is still doing his best to keep the team semi-afloat.