Their best hitter exited the game with a hamstring injury after his first at-bat and was put on the 10 day IL.
Their best overall player hit a home run in each of the first two games and left with an undisclosed illness after only one at-bat in game three.
Their best pitcher was pulled in the middle of a no-hitter after 6 innings and only 83 pitches.
One of their only free agent signings from this offseason, and their best defensive infielder, booted the relay on a potential double play ball in the opener.
Their leader in home runs the past two seasons was forced into pinch-hit duty for 3 games because the Twins opened their season in a national league venue.
Their 1st baseman is 2 for 13 with 7 strikeouts to start the season.
They blew a 5-2 lead in the 9th inning of opening day and lost 6-5 in ten innings.
Their newly signed closer helped the team blow a 5-2 9th inning lead on opening day. After he induced a soft ground ball back to him with one out and a runner on 1st, for some reason he elected to try to get the lead runner for the second out when the double play was an impossibility, and the force out was far from a sure thing. (I guess 2 outs with a runner on 1st is always better than 2 outs with a runner on 2nd…but he had a 3 run lead in the ninth with one out registered…and they’re giving you a for sure second out…throw the damn ball to first base.)
Of course his throw was off target, both runners were safe, and it snowballed.
A catchable ball was then booted in the outfield shortly there after and the Brewers eventually tied the game. It took the Twins one more inning to fall 6-5 in walk-off fashion.
It was a Minnesota Twins game, but watching it felt more like a Minnesota Vikings viewing experience.
Despite all that, Minnesota was able to shake off their opening day jitters and take 2 out of 3 in their first series of the season.
They used great starting pitching, good bullpen help, and timely hitting from Buxton and Arraez to win 2-0 in game two.
Game three they broke out the bats to win 8-2.
So they survived the first week of the season. This next week’s docket puts them in Detroit for three and at home for three with Seattle. It also gives us a look at the 4 and 5 starters in the rotation for the first time.
I have a feeling those appearances will be all about survival all season long.
Also it’ll be nice if/when Donaldson, Cruz, and Buxton are all in the lineup together at some point this season.
