The Yankees recently finished off what had been up to that point a dream season for the Minnesota Twins. After winning the American League Central and 101 games, the most for a Twins team since 1965, they were swept by the Yankees 3 games to 0.
The Twins had finished the regular season with an MLB record 307 home runs as a team, breaking the record of 267 set in 2018 by the Yankees. By all accounts it had been a dream season for the Twins. It was their first division title and trip to the American League Division Series since 2010. To the team and their fans it seemed like this year would be different than the other years, it was not.
The last time the Twins won a playoff series was 2002. That year, with the threat of being dissolved as a franchise, the Twins made it all the way to the American League Championship Series before succumbing to the Angels in five games.
In the ensuing two decades it has seemed that almost every time the Twins make the playoffs they end up facing the Yankees in the first round. All six times they have met in the postseason the Yankees have ended up on top. Not only have the Twins lost six straight postseason series to the Yankees but they now are tied for having lost the most consecutive postseason games at 16 dating all the way back to 2004.
None of the players from the first time the two teams met in 2003 are still on either team, but there is something about this match up that still persists. These series have taken place across four different stadiums, included six different managers and hundreds of players almost nothing remains the same across the years, except for the outcome.
If the past is any indication of the future, since the Yankees last two World Series appearances came after facing the Twins in 2003 and 2009, they should have made it again. But the one certainty so far has been these are the same Twins who just can’t seem to get it done when it counts.
