Mission Impossible: 18 Games and Counting

So the Twins are deep into Mission Impossible on their journey to try and get into the playoffs. Team members are falling by the wayside left and right. The mission leader, Ron Gardenhire, is baffled at what to do next. Give up or keep fighting are is only options. What does he do? Is Mission Impossible truly impossible at this point?

With the Twins having 18 games left and the Tigers 17, Mission Impossible is nearing its end with defeat looming. The Twins sit 5.5 games back of the Tigers and it seems as if it may be time to surrender. Twins fans everywhere are slamming Dido into their CD players and listening to “White Flag” crying. Tigers fans are joyously putting Queen’s “We Are The Champions” on repeat. My response is not so soon my friends…no so soon.

The Twins and Tigers play 7 games against eachother still. I know they won’t win out, but those are 7 games that the Twins have complete control over. If they can keep about even with the Tigers on the rest of the games, which they’ve been doing for a while now, then they have a chance to make significant moves in the division race when playing the Tigers. So please, take the Dido and Queen out of your CD players and off of your iPod playlists. Replace them with “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor for Twins fans and “It Ain’t Over Til It’s Over” by Lenny Kravitz for the Tigers fans.

OK, enough musical metaphors, how do the Twins actually pull it off? They have a bunch of young starting pitchers, a shaky middle infield, and no more Joe Crede or Justin Morneau. How is it possible that this team can pull it off with all of these holes? Well, I did say it was “Mission Impossible” and I think that’s an appropiate name. It’s going to take a miracle. But, if Joe Mauer keeps hitting the cover off of the ball and Cuddyer and Kubel can step up and fill in some power numbers, it’s possible. Like I said before, it’s not impossible just improbable. There is a reason they play the games though, and this is why. This is what makes baseball great. It’s coming down to the final stretch of the marathon that the MLB season is, and this is where each decision, each pitch, and each plate appearance means more than it has before. It comes down to who wants it more. The Twins have a chance to prove to the world and the Tigers that they want the AL Central title more than the Tigers.

Tags: cuddyer, joe mauer, justin morneau, kubel, Minnesota Twins, mlb, ron gardenhire, tigers, Twins