For so much of this MLB season, the focus has been on the rapid pace that baseballs are flying out of parks – with the Twins, of all teams, at the record-setting forefront.
The organization that has been known for small ball instead of the long ball, surpassed the Yankees' single-season home run record – and they did it on Aug. 31 with a full month left in the season, for the love of Nick Punto.
But Twins fans for a while have also kept a skeptical eye cast toward the big, bad Yankees – as a possible foe, first and foremost, in a postseason that has seen the Yankees eliminate the Twins in 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010 and 2017, with 10 consecutive New York victories and counting during that run … but also as a team that was hitting a lot of homers of its own.
And, well, as much as Twins fans love to fret they are often correct with their instincts. On Tuesday, Mitch Garver hit another huge home run for the Twins in a 5-0 win over the Nationals. The Yankees lost to the woeful Tigers, but New York blasted six homers in the process.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the home run tally officially reads: Twins 276, Yankees 276.
Gulp. Tied.
The home run record is mainly a vanity piece and is far superseded by how the Twins close out the regular season and what they are able to accomplish should they, as expected, make the playoffs. And it should be pointed out that the Twins have played two fewer games than New York, so they have 18 chances at more bombas while the Yankees have just 16. And yes, the Twins have some easier games coming up on their schedule.
But New York has two more against Detroit, six more against Toronto and a bunch of games at Yankee Stadium, whose dimensions are only slightly larger than the average office cubicle.
