A look at "What if" - Would Twins have done it?

From the Seats, October 16, 2004

MINNEAPOLIS - Lets take a look at a few "what if this happened" scenarios. The first being that the Twins beat the Yankees, which I think they could have, they did outplay them in game two and game four, just ran into some bad luck and manage to lose them. Than lets say the Twins beat the Red Sox to get to the World Series.

Than lets take another what if, lets say the Cardinals do indeed make it to the World Series, which they are in good shape to do being up 2-0. So it would be the Cardinals vs. Twins for the World Series with the Twins having home field advantage.

My question is, after seeing the Cardinals play so far this post season, would the Twins even have a chance? 

I think it would have been tuff for the Twins. If they had continued to play like they did when they clinched than I think they are still playing right now and things might be different. But for how they did play against the Yankees, pitching wouldn't have held up in the series.

There is no way that the Twins we saw last week could have out slugged any team. That was obvious in game 3 and even game 4. The offensive pop just wasn't there. The Cardinals scored all 6 runs in Game 2 from home runs, something I dont think the Twins have done in the last 4 years they have won.

That leaves a few questions for next year. Do the Twins try to find that big power bat? What can they do to try and get the offense to score more runs? Justin Morneau will be in the line up full time for the first time, is that enough? Will that be the power they need? Will that be enough to score runs and be able to out slug another team?

I dont think it will, but I do think the Twins can be better offensively next year. They showed us for a while that they can score runs at any time, against any team to win. Leading up to when the Twins clinched I think they were playing the best baseball they have played in the past 4 years, they could have beaten any team that came their way.

So what happened from the date they Clinched, September 20 to game 1 of the ALDS, October 5? That is 14 days. 14 days that the Twins took some time off and rested regular players. 14 days that the Twins let things slip up, didnt play with that same drive they did on September 20. After clinching they lost 3 in a row, and went 4-12. In that time they lost home field advantage in the ALDS and ended up playing the Yankees.

Were the Twins playing for home field advantage? Yes, I think they were. But at the same time they were resting regular players, trying to get them ready for the playoffs. Rest is good, cant win when a team is too tired to play. But at the same time, the Twins could not afford to lose that drive they had before September 20th.

If only we could take a little step back in time, and try to change a few things to see how they would work out.