They certainly haven’t made it easy — on themselves or their fans — but finally, at long last, the Minnesota Twins seem to have run away with the AL Central division. Of course, that has as much to do with the other teams in the Central as it does with the Twins themselves, but still: a playoff spot is a playoff spot, and no one is going to want to face Minnesota’s loaded rotation in a short series. And they have been playing better baseball of late: They’re 10-6 thus far in September, with an offense that ranks fifth in team OPS over that span.
So, when can the Twin Cities start popping bottles? With less than two weeks left in the 2023 regular season, we’ll be keeping track of the Twins’ magic number to win the AL Central, with updates every morning.
(As we near the playoffs and divisions are decided, teams are given “magic numbers” to clinch their division. This is just a fun term for the number of wins needed to secure a division so that no matter what else happens, that team will win the division come the last day of the season.)
Twins magic number: 6
This divisional race was more or less put to bed two weeks ago, when the Twins came into Cleveland and dropped 29 runs in a series win over the Guardians. Cleveland is fully in rebuilding mode — waiver adds of Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Matt Moore aside — and with Minnesota finally showing a pulse on offense, there’s been very little suspense so far this month. Entering play on Monday, the Twins’ magic number sits at six: Any combination of six Minnesota wins and Guardians losses will handle the Twins their first division title since 2020.
