According to ELIAS

Twins walk to a 7-1 Opening Day win at Target Field over the Kansas City Royals

Joe Mauer

Robbie Grossman, Joe Mauer and Miguel Sano each drew bases loaded walks in the Twins’ six-run seventh inning in their win over the Royals. It was the first time since September 25, 2009 that the Twins drew three bases loaded walks in the same inning. That game was also against the Royals and the Twins players who did it were Joe Mauer, Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer.

The Twins drew only seven bases loaded walks all of last season.

According to MLB, Opening Day rosters feature record 259 players born outside the U.S.

The 2017 Minnesota Twins have arrived

The season opener for your favorite team is always a special day and that day has arrived for my favorite team the Minnesota Twins. I won’t be at the game in person as I am still in Florida but you can bet your bippies that I will be watching the Twin take on the Royals.

I have high hopes for this team, no, not playoff type hopes but I want to see this team breakout and take a giants step forward and show all those baseball experts that they are a team that will need to be reckoned with in the near future. The team is due to hit on some players that they didn’t expect to be stars, it happens all the time but it hasn’t happened in Minnesota since Brian Dozier came on the scene.

The Twins have suffered some bad luck since they moved into Target Field and some folks still say it was those 13 trees that were removed from Target Field after the inaugural 2010 season that started the down hit slide. Maybe it was and maybe it wasn’t, but this spring like every spring brings new hope, even for us old-timers that got to go to Met Stadium and the HHH Metrodome to see the Killer, Carew, Puckett, Hrbek, and Santana take the Twins to heights that today’s fans can old dream about.

But our team this season is the 2017 version of the Minnesota Twins, how much do you know about these guys? I have put together a little quiz for you to test your knowledge about this years team and staff. Have fun and good luck.

Know your 2017 Twins

Here is a 25 question quiz to see how well you know your 2017 Minnesota Twins players and staff. The information is based on the Opening Day roster and includes players that start the season on the DL. Give it a shot, it is multiple choice so if nothing else you can always guess. Most of all have fun!

 

“Grin and bear it cause good things are a-comin”.

Like most baseball fans I can’t wait for the 2017 MLB season to begin. I have been excited for every baseball season to start for over 60 years now so that tells you that I am no rookie fan, you might compare me to the old veteran player that is looking to hang on for another season.

Spring brings hope as the weather warms, spring rains fall, the grass turns green, the leaves start to form on the trees and somewhere off in the distance you hear that yell that your ears have yearned for during the cold winter months, PLAY BALL!!

The home town Minnesota Twins ended spring training on Friday and flew to Minnesota after their final exhibition game which ended in a 3-3 tie against their AAA Rochester team. Spring training wins mean very little, in 2016 the Cubs finished their exhibition schedule with a 11-19 record and won the World Series. The 2016 Twins finished with a 19-11 record and when they looked at the standings when the season ended they saw a “59” in their W column. The 2017 Twins were 16-13 in this springs meaningless games.

This is the first season for the new Derek Falvey and Thad Levine regime and the third season as the Twins manager for Paul Molitor. Much has been said and written about Falvey and his approach to running a team and how appreciated he was in Cleveland. The consensus is that Falvey has taken over a tired old organization that time has passed by and a complete house-cleaning was in order. But Falvey and Levine have not done that, they have actually made very few moves both on the field and in the front office. I think that tells us something.

To me it sends a very clear message, the Minnesota Twins organization coming off a disastrous season in which they lost 103 games is not the pile of s*%# that everyone says it was and that the team has a bright future and all they need to do is fine tune it a bit and stay out of way to make sure they don’t screw it up. Falvey didn’t leave the Indians and Levine the Rangers to end up in some dead-end team with no hope, they came to Minnesota because they see what this team can and will be in the next few years. Believe me, the Twins organization is far from perfect and there will not be any playoff games played in Target Field in 2017 but this years team will not be the sad sack Twins of 2016.

The major weakness the Twins have is their relief pitching and Falvey and Levine did nothing to speak of to address that problem, that will come back to haunt the team this season. Can the starters be worse this year than last? I think not so I am expecting much more from that group in 2017. The young position players are just getting to the stage of realizing that they can play and compete at the big league level and they will be both fun and at times frustrating to watch. The Twins motto for this season should be “Grin and bear it cause good things are a-comin”.

My 2017 American League Central Division prediction

Here is how it is going to look after the 2017 season ends.

 

The 2017 American League pennant winners will be the Cleveland Indians and the National League pennant winning Washington Nationals will play in the 2017 World Series with the Indians winning in 6 exciting games. Enjoy the season.

Minnesota Twins Historical Opening Day Crossword Puzzle

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The Minnesota Twins will open their 2017 season in just a few days at Target Field against the Kansas City Royals. The last time the Twins won a game on Opening Day was March 31, 2008 when they beat the Angels 3-2, since then they have lost on Opening Day eight times in a row. Hopefully they can change that pattern and celebrate a win on the opener. The only active players on this years (2017) version of the Minnesota Twins that played on the 2008 Twins are Joe Mauer and Craig Breslow. Breslow left the Twins in 2009 and has since played for the A’s, Diamondbacks, Red Sox and Marlins before putting on a Twins uniform again. Back in 2008 Mauer was an All-Star, Gold Glove, Silver Slugger award winning catcher. Livan Hernandez was the winning pitcher back in 2008. Check out the box score from that game, you might not even remember some of those players. Some of the Twins players from 2008 are Twins coaches today.

Box Score from March 31, 2008

Let’s see how well you remember your Minnesota Twins Opening Day games. Have fun!

Minnesota Twins Opening Day Crossword puzzle

Once you have brought the puzzle up and are ready to print the puzzle, do a right-click with your mouse and you might want to do a print preview first to get the puzzle the right size to fit on a single page. The clues for the puzzle will print on page 2.

Answers? You want answers? Probably just to double-check your work because if you are checking out this site you are probably a big Twins fan and will not need any research to complete the puzzle. If you do need help answering some, the answer might be found else where on this site. If you must see the answers, you can find them on the link below but only do so as a last resort. Thanks, I hope you enjoy it.

Minnesota Twins Opening Day Crossword puzzle answers

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