Here's one certainty with Twins in ALDS: Successful season already secured

On Tuesday, the Twins won their first postseason game since 2004.

On Wed­nesday, they won their first postseason series since 2002.

On Saturday, they will take the field in Houston with both a lot to prove and one certainty already secured: The 2023 season can be viewed as a success, regardless of what transpires in their American League Division Series against the Astros.

This was confirmed at Target Field this week, as more than 38,000 fans wielded Homer Hankies each game, forming waves of red throughout the ballpark. They chanted, "USA! USA!" when the Canadian team took the field in Game 1. They howled every time Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman tripped up. Their racket led to a rally-killing pickoff play in Game 2 when Carlos Correa figured out that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. couldn't hear his third base coach.

This from a fan base that, in the past, lacked creative cheering and complained when spectators sitting in front of them stood up to root for the team.

Nope, you didn't need a thermometer to check for Twins Fever this week. You could hear it.

The 2023 Twins have taken fans for quite a ride. They were expected to be better than last year's 78-84 outfit, but there were doubts that even an improved Twins team would beat out the White Sox and Guardians in the AL Central. Those concerns intensified once the season began. Despite having one of their most reliable starting rotations since the 1970s, the Twins were a .500 team as the All-Star break approached and were being booed for their poor offense.

The skeptics feared a repeat of the second-half swoon from a year ago. Joe Pohlad, the new executive chair, said he wanted to see "a little bit of urgency," a subtle suggestion someone could get sacked if the mediocrity continued.

What's unique about the 2023 Twins is how they adapted. There were two significant transformations during the season: a joint effort by players to take ownership of their offensive woes, and they also took control of hitters' meetings.

"We weren't getting the results early in the season," Michael A. Taylor said, "but we stuck with our plan. We made some adjustments, mainly on the hitting side, the way we game plan and things like that."

The Twins team OPS was nearly 100 points higher after the break than before it. They hit the same number of homers in the second half as the first — in 20 fewer games.

And the front office renovated the bullpen into a flame-throwing force. Who saw Louie Varland and Chris Paddack being converted into relievers? Brock Stewart spent part of 2020 pitching for the Chicago Deep Dish, an independent team. Now, he's with the Twins and might have the nastiest stuff in that bullpen.

These streak-slaying Twins evolved as the season progressed, brushed aside Toronto in the wild-card series and now have some predicting that their run won't end at the ALDS.

Speaking of streaks, there's one more the Twins ended on Wednesday.

On Oct. 17 of last year, the Loons were eliminated in the first round of the MLS playoffs by FC Dallas. The Vikings, NFC North champs, went one-and-done in the postseason three months later with a loss to the Giants. The Timberwolves, who qualified for the playoffs by defeating Oklahoma City in a play-in game, were put out of their misery by the Denver Nuggets in April's first round. Three days later, the Wild were also eliminated in the first round by the Dallas Stars after coughing up a 2-1 series lead. And more recently, the Lynx returned to the postseason after a rough 2022 campaign but were bounced out Sept. 20 by the Connecticut Sun in, yep, the first round.

So in addition to ending two different postseason streaks of their own doing, the Twins also cured Minnesota's highly contagious case of the one-and-dones.

Already a successful Twins season? Whether they play three more games or 19 more, it doesn't matter. Yes.