Dominick Ingram, Staff Writer

The Minnesota Twins’ historic season came to a close Monday, losing 5-1 to the Yankees and allowing them to complete the playoff series sweep. With this loss, the Twins have now been eliminated from postseason play, and this game marks their 16th consecutive playoff loss, leaving the Twins tied for the longest streak in the majors. Even though the loss broke many Twins fans’ hopeful hearts, there are many reasons to remain optimistic for next season as many of the Twins’ key pieces will be back for the 2020 season.

The beginning of Game 1 at Yankee Stadium gave many fans flashbacks of the 2017 AL Wildcard game with a 1st inning home run from Jorge Polanco which gave the Twins an early 1-0 lead. Unfortunately, the flashback came back to life. Jose Berrios labored through 4 innings, and after a rocky 3rd inning, the Yankees were able to take the lead. The Twins were not able to find a lead after that as the Minnesota bullpen gave up 7 runs. Game 2 was a forgettable one, but it became out of hand in just the 3rd inning when the Yankees tacked on 7 runs off of Randy Dobnak and Tyler Duffey. Monday night was where the season ended for the Twins. They had several opportunities to capitalize with runners on base, but were never able to come through. The Twins pitching was sharp early on but they just could not take advantage. Target Field was quiet until the 7th inning when Eddie Rosario hit a solo home run to put the Twins on the board, but the Yankees bullpen kept them scoreless after that.

This playoff series loss allows Twins fans to reflect on the historic season this team had throughout the year, and should get them excited for the future. General Managers Rob Antony and Thad Levine won’t let a roster like this sit idle, so be prepared to see some offseason moves done in order to put the Twins back in this position in early October next year.

This article was originally published in the October 11, 2019 issue.