In one of the most astounding comebacks in baseball history, the Minnesota Twins won the AL Central after taking out the Detroit Tigers in stunning fashion after beating them in a AL Central tiebreaker by the score of 6-5.
To make this comeback more astounding, the Twins came back from a three game deficit in the AL Central with only four games to play. This is the first time that it has happened in baseball history.
Fans of both teams are probably trying to ask the question, "What Really Happened Here, Did the Twins deserve to win or did the Tigers choke?"
Here are argument for both schools of thought:
Twins win: The Minnesota Twins were pretty much left for dead a couple months ago as the Tigers appeared to be in full control of the AL Central.
The Twins were behind as many as 6 1/2 games in September as the Tigers magic number continued to dwindle.
The Twins reeled off 16 wins out of their last twenty games to pull within striking distance and still needed to win the AL Central tiebreaker to make the playoffs. With the victory, the Twins clinched the AL Central for the fifth time in the past ten years.
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire deserves a fair share of the credit for keeping this team alive even with a season ending injury to Justin Morneau and Twins catcher Joe Mauer should have wrapped up the MVP award with eye-popping numbers during this run.
The Twins combined solid pitching, timely hitting (the team is 5th overall in runs scored), and a solid defense to steal the AL Central crown away from the Tigers. It was pure baseball at it's finest.
Tigers Choke: Let's be honest, when you have a three game lead with four games left, you probably should close the deal. Hell, you can even split those four games and still win by two.
The Tigers have only themselves to blame since they also had numerous opportunities to seal the AL Central crown before the tiebreaker and during the tiebreak game.
In their final five games (which includes the tiebreaker), the Tigers gave up a total of 30 runs. No matter how good your offense is, your still not going to win many games giving up an average of six runs.
The offense during that final five game stretch only mustered a paltry total of 14 runs. When you are getting only decent pitching and an average offense output, you can fail to win a certain amount of games and give a team the opportunity to comeback.
The Tigers really were in control of their own destiny and failed to capitalize when they were in the cat-bird seat and only have themselves to blame for watching ALDS on television.
Conclusion: To be honest, many writers have piled on the city of Detroit for their lack of success recently in the world of baseball but this can be seen as a pure choke on their part.
There is no discounting that the Twins were the better team and should be commended for it but when you were leading the AL Central for most of the year and had a three game lead with four games left, you have only yourself to blame if you miss the playoffs.
Did the Twins win or the Tigers choke?
