Not all numbers matter to Twins

As the Twins cruise toward the halfway point in the season with a comfortable lead in the AL Central, there are some numbers that matter a lot — and some that don't. Here's a look at a few that fall into either category:

• When the Twins were racking up six division titles in a nine-year span from 2002-2010, they did it largely thanks to dominating games in the AL Central.

This year offers a similar chance, and it's one the Twins still have ample opportunity upon which to cash in. The Twins have played just 19 games this season against the three worst teams in the division — Chicago, Detroit and Kansas City — and winning 13 of those contests.

More importantly, of the 87 games left on Minnesota's schedule, 38 are against those three teams — a full 44%. Those games are hardly gimmes, but the Twins should rack up their share of wins and avoid losing skids while playing those teams.

• By the way, the Twins' results against teams with records of .500 or better received a boost recently with the Angels' surge. Minnesota is 5-1 against the Angels this season, and with Los Angeles entering Thursday with a 38-37 mark the Twins are now 19-15 against teams with winning records.

That mark will fluctuate with the fortunes of other teams, making it relatively useless.

• The Twins miss Byron Buxton. They are 6-7 in games he doesn't start this year. He impacts the game in so many ways, but defensively he is unmatched on this roster.

Buxton, sidelined because of a wrist injury, has a .527 slugging percentage and .851 OPS that has fans overjoyed. Sano, who missed time early and has slumped lately, nevertheless has a .522 slugging percentage and .833 OPS that has fans more often than not grumpy.

• After the Twins defeated the Red Sox 4-3 in 17 innings Tuesday, I was interested to see if there is any lingering effect from a game like that because of depleted bullpens or deflating/inflating wins/losses.

So I looked at some similar games in recent history. The criteria: The games had to be in May-August — accounting for a lot of off days in April that can replenish a bullpen and expanded rosters in September that do the same — from 2010 to present, lasting between 17 and 19 innings.

I found seven such games via Baseball Reference, hoping to prove (or disprove) that winners and losers of such games were impacted immediately thereafter.

While seven games is hardly a whopping sample size, the snapshot seems to be that playing an extra-long game in the middle of the season doesn't have much impact beyond that game.