All decade, the Twins have kept on keeping it exciting

The Washington Senators came into existence in 1901. They moved to Minnesota and became the Twins for the 1961 season. That means the math is much more linear when you start a decade at "1" and work your way to zero.

Thus, we are 90 percent of the way through the Senators/Twins' 11th decade, and there's one previous decade that compares with the 2000s when it comes to consistency of success.

The most successful era for Clark Griffith's Senators was from 1921 through 1930, when they had six winning seasons and won 47 games more than they lost. They won a first World Series in 1924 and lost in 1925.

The Senators had four consecutive 90-victory seasons (in the day of 154-game schedules) from 1930 to 1933, losing the World Series in five games.

That was it. The next 27 years were dreary to the point that any baseball fan in America could repeat the Washington, D.C., ditty: "First in war, first in peace and last in the American League.''

The poor Washington fans lost their team in favor of a collection of expansion Senators just as Clark's nephew, Calvin, was putting together a powerhouse club.

The Twins from 1961 through 1970 had seven winning seasons, lost a seven-game World Series (1965), won the first two American League West titles (1969-70) and finished 157 games over .500.

A World Series championship finally arrived in 1987 and another in 1991-- both inside the Metrodome. Yet, the start of the '80s was dreadful and there were eight hapless seasons of losing from 1993 through 2000.

There seemed to be no hope that we again would see a real ballclub playing in a real ballpark -- as we had on the Bloomington prairie during that first decade as a major league city -- but we have seen those ballclubs repeatedly in this decade, and we will see them in a real ballpark when this baseball decade concludes in 2010.

There have been eight winning seasons from 2001 through 2009, and the Twins are 124 games over .500.

The Twins have benefitted greatly from the way the World Series tournament has been played since 1995: three divisions and four teams per league advancing to the postseason.

No matter. What has changed most about the Twins in this decade is perception -- that no matter how dire things might look around Father's Day, or even Labor Day, they will figure out a way to be around at the end of the schedule.

The Twins were the AL Central's dominant team in 2002. They made a 46-23 run after the All-Star Game to repeat in 2003. They cruised again in 2004.

There was no push for the 2005 Twins, but they made the mightiest push of all in 2006 -- 71-33 over the final four months -- to wipe out a 12-game deficit and pass Detroit on the season's final day.

There was the one losing season in 2007, and a minor push last September to wind up in a Game 163 tiebreaker against the White Sox in Chicago.

And now this: The Twins blasted Kansas City 13-4 on Sunday to complete a 16-4 sprint and set up another one-game playoff for the Central title: Detroit, 4 p.m. Tuesday, in the Dome.

This comes in a decade already rich with October opportunities and with eight winning seasons that are historic for this franchise.

The Twins made a postseason run in 2002, upsetting Oakland in the first round, and started the ALCS with Joe Mays' masterful victory over Anaheim. The extra-hot Angels won the next four.

They also won first-round openers against the Yankees in 2003-04, only to lose three in a row to superior teams. The big flop came in '06, when the Twins took the momentum of four great months into the playoffs and were swept in three by an inferior Oakland club.

The postseason numbers are ugly -- 6-15 overall (and 2-13 since the Mays masterpiece -- as well as the tiebreaker loss in Chicago.

So, there's the chance to complain, if you choose, but in the marathon of a baseball season, the triumph comes from being involved in the pursuit, and the Twins have done that again in 2009.

This has been a marvelous decade for an original American League franchise, and the marvel will increase next April when the Twins ride an optimistic wave back into a real ballpark, into Target Field.

Patrick Reusse can be heard 5:30-9 a.m. weekdays on AM-1500 KSTP. • preusse@startribune.com