The Minnesota Twins may not be headed to October, but they did help the New York Yankees get there Monday night.
New York beat Minnesota 8-3 at Target Field and locked up a postseason berth in the process. The game was still competitive until Aaron Judge broke it open in the eighth inning with a three-run homer, his first long ball since May. The blast turned a 2-1 Yankees deficit into a 7-2 lead and gave New York the kind of late punch that can matter a lot this time of year.
Judge said the timing worked out perfectly for the Yankees, especially with him still trying to shake off some rust after returning from a fractured rib. Against the Twins, he delivered the kind of swing that changed everything.
"Honestly, we were looking for a little confidence boost," Judge said. "Then we realized we were playing the Twins. That usually does the trick."
Minnesota, meanwhile, seems to have settled into a different kind of October role. The Twins won’t be in the playoffs, so they won’t be facing the Yankees there. Instead, they’re providing New York with the sort of late-season test that can make a team feel ready for the real thing.
Derek Shelton leaned into that idea after the loss.
"It's something we're proud of," Twins manager Derek Shelton said. "We wanted to make sure the Yankees felt confident going into the postseason. If that means giving up a three-run homer in the eighth inning, that's the kind of sacrifice we're willing to make."
There’s history behind the joke, even if the results have usually been painful for Minnesota. The Twins have spent years giving the Yankees postseason moments to remember, usually at their own expense. This time, the setting was different, but the outcome felt familiar enough for Twins fans.
Bailey Ober said he understands the assignment.
"There's a lot of pride in knowing you can help another team achieve its goals," Ober said. "We couldn't make the playoffs ourselves, so we're trying to make sure somebody has a really good October."
Ober was scheduled to throw batting practice fastballs to the Yankees lineup on Tuesday night, which only adds to the odd symmetry of the week.
The bigger picture for Minnesota has been its post-trade-deadline collapse. The Twins bought at the deadline with hopes of staying in the American League playoff race, then stumbled badly afterward.
A.J. Minter, one of those deadline acquisitions, had his own rough turn Monday.
So while the standings have gone sideways for the Twins, the unintended benefit for New York is hard to miss. The Yankees got a playoff berth, Judge found his first homer since returning from the injured list, and Minnesota kept playing the role it has so often filled for New York.
The teams still have two more games this week, which gives the Twins a chance to keep serving as the Yankees’ unofficial October warm-up.
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Now that lift has been interrupted. Culpepper landed on the injured list with a hamstring injury, and the timing could hardly be worse for a Minnesota offense that has already struggled after the break and watched its record slide with it. With the stretch run tightening up, the Twins are left trying to absorb another blow from a roster that has already had too few answers at the plate. [Read more 🡒]