From Worst to First: A Look at the 1991 Minnesota Twins

When I wrote my "What Went Wrong" story about the Minnesota Wild, I mentioned that the entire state is immensely jinxed in pro sports. Since the old Minneapolis Lakers dominated in the 1950s, it's been hell for the entire state. The Lakers moved to LA and added a dozen more championships, but Minnesota would get a new NBA team, the Timberwolves, who have been immensely snakebit, but that could change. Minnesota also had two NHL franchises who were hard luck, but at least the old North Stars had close calls. The same cannot be said for the Wild, and similar to the old Lakers, the North Stars had to relocate to finally win the big one. And don't get me started on the Vikings. Made four of the first 11 Super Bowls, but lost them all, and it's been almost five decades since they've played in the big game.

I mentioned the North Stars and close calls. One such close call came in 1991. While the North Stars fell short, things were looking good in another sport. The Minnesota Twins were part of the huge relocation and expansion wave that hit sports during the 1960s. It was in 1961 that the original Washington Senators moved to Minnesota and became the Twins, while a second Senators team was placed in DC. The OG Sens won the World Series all the way back in 1924, but were not a good team for the most part. In 1965, the Twins won their first pennant since relocating, but fell short in the World Series. 22 years later, the Twins were champions, but three years after that ring, they found themselves at the bottom of the seven-team American League West.

That all changed in the following year. The offseason saw the Twins acquire Chili Davis, one of the great DHs during that period, as a free agent, and he went on to lead the team in HRs (29) and RBIs (93). Kent Hrbek hit 20 longballs and had 89 RBIs, the latter being tied for second on the team behind the team's ultimate household name: the late, great Kirby Puckett. Puckett was the centerpiece in the Twins' 1987 championship, and regarding 1991, he batted .319 (which led the team), and homered 15 times. Regarding pitching, Scott Erickson went 20-8 with a 3.18 ERA and 108 strikeouts. Kevin Tapani was the ERA leader with 2.99, but the strikeout leader was Jack Morris with 163.

In 1990, the Twins finished 74-88--dead last in the AL West. In 1991, a 21-game improvement occurred, finishing 95-67 and winning the AL West by eight games over the Chicago White Sox, while finishing 11 games ahead of the Oakland Athletics--who entered that season as back-to-back-to-back pennant winners. The Twins faced off against another team on the rise, the Toronto Blue Jays, in that year's American League Championship Series, with the Twins having home field. The teams split the first two games in the Metrodome, with the Twins winning Game One while the Jays won Game Two. The series shifted across the northern border for the next three games, and it was all Twins. While Minnesota needed 10 innings to take Game Three, they would go on to take Games Four and Five in very dominant fashion to win their second pennant in five years.

The Twins, in their third World Series appearance since the move (and their most recent appearance overall), faced off against the Atlanta Braves, and we all know their story from that year. Similar to the Twins, the Braves were dead last in 1990, but they turned it around and won the National League West in 1991, the first of their storied 14 straight division titles. It was the American League's turn to have home field, and the Twins took both games at home. The scene shifted to Atlanta for the next three, and the Braves definitely took advantage. After winning a 12-inning thriller in Game Three, the Braves added another walk-off win in Game Four before blasting the Twins in Game Five by a score of 14-5. So the Braves were one win away from their first championship since moving to Atlanta.

The Series moved back to the Metrodome, where Game Six saw the Twins strike early with a pair in the first inning. Braves tied it up with a Terry Pendleton two-run shot in the fifth, but the bottom half of that inning saw the Twins retake the lead, 3-2. It became 3-3 in the seventh inning, and that score stood up for the longest. Extra innings were needed for the second time in this Series, and in the 11th inning, Kirby Puckett was up. He took two pitches, but he decided to go for it afterwards, and it paid off! A walk-off solo shot that forced a deciding Game Seven!

Game Seven was the ultimate pitchers duel. Jack Morris went up against John Smoltz in a rematch of Game Four, and nothing was surrendered. There were chances. Both teams had chances, but no dice. Nine innings ended, 27 outs from both teams, but zero runs at all. Jack Morris was actually brought back out there to pitch the tenth inning. He was advised against pitching the tenth, but Morris wanted to remain in there. Jeff Blauser, Lonnie Smith, and Terry Pendleton--all retired in order. In the bottom half of the inning, Dan Gladden led off with a double, placing the potential championship winning run in scoring position. Chuck Knoblauch bunted Gladden to third, and after that, Kirby Puckett and Kent Hrbek were given intentional passes to set up a potential double play, or at least a play at the plate followed by a big out afterwards. Neither would happen. Gene Larkin came up to bat, and the first pitch he saw was a single that won the game and the championship for the Twins.

The Minnesota Twins clinched their second World Championship since the move (and third overall) on Sunday, October 27, 1991. Unsurprisingly, Jack Morris was named MVP of that year's Fall Classic--pitching a 10-inning shutout in Game Seven will definitely do it. A few trivial tidbits. This would be the last World Series called by the late, great Jack Buck, who did so for CBS. Of course, five years later, Jack's son, Joe Buck, called the 1996 Series (which also featured the Braves), and became the voice of the Fall Classic until the end of the 2021 season. The Twins' thrilling seven-game win was the last pro sports championship for the state of Minnesota until the PWHL team won the inaugural Walter Cup last year. The state is still looking for a Big Four championship; hell, they're still looking for a championship appearance. Though, as of this point, the Timberwolves could end that drought.

The 1991 Minnesota Twins' road to the World Championship is definitely the stuff of legends. From dead last in 1990 to champions in 1991, heroics all around during the postseason, it was baseball at its best. A 10-inning complete game shutout by a starting pitcher will definitely not happen again, even if it's a no-hitter, mainly due to the obsession with pitch counts (regarding Morris, he threw 126 pitches in Game Seven). That attribute made the entire 1991 World Series memorable, and was the unexpected centerpiece of the Twins' second championship run in five years.