The Twins had the worst record in franchise history at 59-103 in 2016, and the expectations were for more of the same in 2017. The competition for the American League's second wild-card position turned into a mess, and the Twins managed to claim it with two strong months and an 85-77 record.
The tall drink of water from Indiana, Kyle Gibson, was vital in this stretch drive. In a season that started with such misery that Gibson was sent back to Class AAA Rochester for a month, he went 6-0 with a 2.92 ERA in eight Twins' starts from Aug. 22 to the end of the schedule.
If Ervin Santana had not made a 3-0 lead disappear so quickly in Yankee Stadium, Gibson was to be the Game 1 starter for a division series in Cleveland.
The 2019 Twins are headed back to the postseason in a much more impressive fashion, with both the first AL Central title since 2010 and 100 victories for the second time in franchise history in sight.
It would also appear the Twins need to see a solid Gibson as badly at this moment as they did to reach that one-or-done situation in 2017.
There is probably a player in the Twins' 59 seasons who did the team worse than Michael Pineda with his 60-game suspension for a banned substance, but I can't come up with one.
The Twins were just getting by with their starting pitching prior to that, and then the giant righthander – the best of the bunch since July — was gone as of Sept. 7.
Jose Berrios has rebounded since then, and Jake Odorizzi has been fine all season, but that's it for certainties with Pineda missing. Martin Perez isn't playoff starter material, and Gibson started losing the fight against stomach ailments in August.