By: Abby Altman

“Defense wins championships”. 

This quote has been around for decades, and although originally spoken regarding football, it can be applied to most sports, and baseball is no exception. 

Pitching is one of the most important aspects of the game of baseball, and the Minnesota Twins have not known the comfort of a good pitching rotation for several years.  

At the beginning of the 2023 season, the Minnesota Twins have surprised the entire MLB with the strength of their pitching and the strength of their lineup, both good and bad. 

The Twins have a few stars on their lineup, including Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton, who have proven that their bats are worth big bucks. After trading the AL batting title winner Luis Arraez in the offseason, the Twins got rid of seemingly the best bat in their lineup. 

Since the start of this season, the Twins lineup has been slow to get the bats moving. Of the 35 games played so far this season (at the time of this writing), Minnesota has scored 5 or less runs in 23 of them. 

Regardless of this, Minnesota’s 19-16 record leads the AL Central, with the Twins 2.5 games ahead of the 2nd place Cleveland Guardians.  

The Twins have their starting pitching rotation to thank for this. 

Minnesota’s starting 5 leads the league in innings pitched with 197.5, and is 2nd in the league in combined ERA with an average of 3.19. 

Sonny Gray leads the entire MLB with a 1.35 ERA, followed closely by Joe Ryan, who is 12th in the league with a 2.45 ERA and is 8th in the league in innings pitched, with 44 through 7 games. 

To start the season, Minnesota’s rotation consisted of Pablo Lopez, Sonny Gray, Joe Ryan, Kenta Maeda, and Tyler Mahle. 

Injuries never fail to plague the Twins, however, and Kenta Maeda and Tyler Mahle have already gone down injured. 

Mahle has been placed on the 60-day IL with right arm posterior impingement and flexor pronator strain. It is unknown whether he will return later on this season, but his earliest return option is not until July. 

Maeda returned this season after receiving Tommy John surgery in 2021. His first start was lights out, with Maeda recording 9 strikeouts and giving up just 1 run. Since then, he has struggled more than any other Twins pitcher, and now has a 9.00 ERA and just 16 innings pitched, regardless of having 4 starts. 

Louie Varland and Bailey Ober have been called up from the Triple A affiliate Saints, and have filled in very well in the 5 man rotation. 

Bailey Ober has only started 3 games for the Twins this season, but he is sitting with a 0.98 ERA and 18.1 innings pitched. Ober has given up just 2 runs this season, with 6 walks and 16 strikeouts. 

Even if Maeda is cleared to re-join the Twins rotation, it is unlikely Ober will be sent back down to St. Paul after his last few performances. 

Even though the Twins rotation started the season lights out, and appeared unbreakable, all good things must eventually end. 

Minnesota has seen their pitchers struggle more in the last few weeks than they would like, especially Pablo Lopez, whom the Twins recently signed to a 4 year/ $73 million contract this past week. 

Lopez gave up just 5 runs total in his first 4 starts, but has since given up 15 runs in his last 3 starts. Lopez has 43 innings pitched and 54 strikeouts this season, but is starting to become less of a threat than the Twins originally perceived him as. 

The Minnesota Twins are currently leading one of the worst divisions in baseball. The Twins record would lead no other division except the AL Central, and the Twins only chance at making a playoff run may be to win the division. 

Unless the Twins can figure out their batting lineup and start stacking on some runs, Minnesota may be relying on their starting pitching rotation for the rest of the season. 

By: Abby Altman

It has been 146 days since the last pitch of the 2022 MLB season was thrown. Nick Castellanos of the Phillies flew out to right fielder Kyle Tucker of the Astros to give Houston the 2022 World Series title.

A lot has happened in the off season since the last game was played, with teams gaining and losing star players left and right. The offseason was chaos for many teams and athletes, and that will most likely show in the start of the 2023 season.

One of the best examples for the chaos seen this offseason is through Carlos Correa.

After the 2022 season, Correa announced he would be opting out of his 3-year contract with the Minnesota Twins. On December 14th, Correa reached an agreement with the San Francisco Giants, for 13 years/$350 million.

This appeared to be a done deal, and Correa was going to be a Giant. On December 20th, however, San Francisco canceled Correas introductory press conference, mere hours before it was scheduled to begin. Fans were given no explanation.

On December 21st, while most fans were asleep, Correa reached an agreement with the New York Mets, for 12 years/ $315 million. Again, this seemed like a done deal, and Correa was going to become a Met.

On December 24th, Correa’s introductory press conference was postponed, due to reported concerns with his physical. Correa showed few issues physically last season.

When the Giants and the Mets both passed on Correa, Minnesota took this time to step up, and bring him back home.

On January 10th, Correa and the Minnesota Twins reached an agreement for 6 years/ $200 million.

If that timeline of a star shortstop essentially joining 3 different teams all to end up with the same team as last season doesn’t give you a good idea of what this season will look like, I’m not sure what will.

At the end of last years regular season, the top 10 teams in the power rankings were:

1. Dodgers
2. Astros
3. Braves
4. Yankees
5. Mets
6. Cardinals
7. Blue Jays
8. Guardians
9. Mariners
10. Padres

The Philadelphia Phillies were ranked 12th, and still managed to play in the World Series, beating the Cardinals, Padres, and Braves to get there.

Since then, more than 150 free agents have signed new contracts, nearly 70 trades have been made, and 5 teams have hired new managers.

Opening day for the 2023 season took place on March 30th, and was an excellent look into what the upcoming season has in store for fans.

Here are my predictions for the top 10 teams this season, and the World Series matchup to end the season:

1. Toronto Blue Jays

2022 record: 92-70

2023 predicted record: 103-59

2.  New York Yankees

2022 record: 99-63

2023 predicted record: 100-62

3.  Houston Astros

2022 record: 106-56

2023 predicted record: 100-62

4.  Los Angeles Dodgers

2022 record: 111-51

2023 predicted record: 98-64

5.  New York Mets

2022 record: 101-61

2023 predicted record: 96-66

6. Atlanta Braves

2022 record: 101-61

2023 predicted record: 95-67

7.  San Diego Padres

2022 record: 89-73

2023 predicted record: 92-70

8.   Philadelphia Phillies

2022 record: 87-75

2023 predicted record: 90-72

9.  Cleveland Guardians

2022 record: 92-70

2023 predicted record: 90-72

10.  Baltimore Orioles

2022 record: 83-79

2023 predicted record: 88-74

The Houston Astros will come very close to back-to-back World Series titles. Uncomfortably close for many fans, who have had a strong disliking for the team since 2019, when the cheating scandal was uncovered.

However, I believe the New York Mets will make it through the playoffs, and beat the Astros in 6 for the 2023 World Series title.