During a day of playoff baseball that was full of hits and misses, the Minnesota Twins were the biggest losers of all despite only falling to the Houston Astros by a 3-1 margin.
The loss to Houston was Minnesota’s 18th in a row, the longest stretch of postseason failure in the history of North American professional sports, according to The Wall Street Journal. The only team that’s even close, the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks, dropped 16 straight playoff games from 1975 through 1979.
The Twins are 0-18 in the playoffs since winning Game 1 of the AL Division Series versus the New York Yankees on October 5, 2004, a total of seven rounds lost.
In three playoff games last season, the Twins had seven runs and 22 hits. In the two-game sweep against the Astros, they scored only two runs and had just seven hits.
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli, who was a 23-year-old outfielder for Tampa Bay when Minnesota’s problems began in 2004, wasn’t aware of his club’s futility issues in the playoffs when he took his job last year. He knows now as he’s now been in the dugout for five straight playoff losses.
“We haven’t been successful in the playoffs lately at all,” Baldelli said after the loss. “That is a reality for all the fans and for everyone who follows the organization and cares about the Twins.”
Following the loss, Minnesota had almost nothing to say on Twitter.
Since the Twins last won a postseason game in ’04, the Astros are 43-35 in the playoffs and have won 10 of 15 rounds with three trips to the World Series.
Houston will play Monday against either the A’s or the White Sox. The Astros have reached the AL Championship Series in each of the last three years and will likely be favored against either Oakland or Chicago.
More Like This
Whether you’re looking to get into shape, or just get out of a funk, The Charge has got you covered. Sign up for our new wellness newsletter today.
