As someone who has dabbled in sports rituals and superstitions over the years, I found myself wondering the other day about the Twins’ Rally Sausage.
The processed meat tube that became a fun narrative during the Twins’ offensive turnaround that prompted a recent 17-3 stretch must have stopped working as the bats went silent during a seven-game losing streak when the Twins were outscored 45-12.
Where was the Rally Sausage, and why had it forsaken them?
Very soon after, I had the answer. As Bobby Nightengale wrote, the Rally Sausage made its triumphant return Tuesday. It was delivered by UPS to the Twins’ clubhouse in Washington just a couple hours before Minnesota walloped the Nationals 10-0 to stop that skid.
As it turns out, they had left it back in Minnesota after scoring only one run in a three-game sweep at the hands of the Yankees at Target Field, perhaps thinking that their luck had turned. But after four more lackluster losses on the road, the sausage was back.
Byron Buxton, who had said previously that he would not touch the sausage, broke that promise. He hit two home runs Tuesday.
“That’s our lucky sausage,” Buxton said. “Getting it back was big. I guess I’m going to have to hop on the train. I done touched it now.”
That a sausage would have some sort of magical powers that helped Twins hitters barrel up some balls makes no sense at all — unless, of course, you have ever played or watched sports, as I talked about on Wednesday’s Daily Delivery podcast.
