What is the story about?
Results
- R1: Jack Morris Game 7 Shutout 1991
- R2: Kirby Puckett Game 6 Dominance 1991
- R3: First World Series championship 1987
- R4: AL Champions Metrodome welcome 1987
- R5: Game 163 wild victory 2009
- R6: Mudcat’s World Series must-win 1965
The
last few years, Shohei Ohtani has simultaneously thrilled MLB fans with arm and bat. Well, Jim “Mudcat” Grant was perhaps the O.G. of dual-threat theatrics in the 1965 World Series!
With the Twins needing a victory to stay alive, the Mudcat twirled a 1-run complete game AND homered in the sixth inning to put the outcome on ice. It proved to be the last game the Twins would win in ‘65, but what an effort to force a Game 7!
The newbie: Thome is my homie!
Last Day Division Title (2006)
- On 8/6/06, the Twins were 10.5 GB the Detroit Tigers for the AL Central top spot. Going into Game 162? Tied with the striped cats. After the Twins polished off the Chicago White Sox on the season’s final day, the entire Metrodome crowd stuck around to watch the Tigers lose to the Kansas City Royals on the Jumbotron scoreboard—triggering a celebration as massive as it was unlikely for the Smell ‘Em & Piranha Crew.
Killer Crushes #500 (1971)
- On August 10, 1971, Minnesota masher Harmon Killebrew took Mike Cuellar deep in the 1st inning at Metropolitan Stadium. That home run gained Harm admittance into the 500 Home Run Club—only the 10th occupant of that roundtable at the time. The clout cemented The Killer as an all-time slugger.
Kirby Puckett takes Milwaukee (1987)
- One could argue that Kirby Puckett became a true star on a late-August 1987 weekend in Milwaukee. On Saturday, 8/29, he went 4-5 with 2 HR. The Sunday 8/30 encore: 6-6, 2 2B, & 2 HR. If you are counting along at home, that’s 24 total bases in less than 24 hours! Puck raised his average from .315 to .328 in that short span and his storied career was off to the races.
Breaking the playoff losing streak (2023)
- Starting in 2004 and continuing through 2022, the Minnesota Twins lost 18 consecutive playoff games—a professional sports (of any kind) record. But in Game 1 of the 2023 AL Wild Card round versus the Toronto Blue Jays, Royce Lewis became The Exorcist and got MN into the October win column when Jhoan Duran polished off the save. The next day, the Twins sent the Blue Birds back over the northern border after Sonny Gray & Carlos Correa collaborated on a clutch pickoff. Meaningful baseball was revitalized in Minnesota!
Thome christens Target Field (2010)
- When Target Field opened to begin the 2010 season, it was clearly a beautiful new ballpark that the hometown nine excelled in. But it was missing one thing: a signature moment. Try as they might, the Twins could not muster a walk-off victory in front of the sold-out crowds for the first four-and-a-half months. But on August 17, The Man With An Ox In The Batter’s Box finally gave Target Field it’s first magical memory.
