The Twins had a monopoly on the Twin Cities sports scene earlier in the week, and took advantage by winning a pair of tense, low-scoring games against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Twins fans out in force in downtown Minneapolis despite a monster football weekend
Even with the Gophers playing Michigan and the Vikings playing the Chiefs, Twins fans made their presence known downtown on Saturday.
October 8, 2023 at 1:21AM
This was extremely notable for ending the Twins' Western Hemisphere record of losing 18 consecutive playoff contests, and allowing them to advance in baseball's postseason for the first time since winning a Division Series with Oakland in 2002.
The pumped-up sellout crowds vs. Toronto so thrilled the Twins' marketers they decided to hold Saturday and Sunday "watch parties" for the first two games of the best-of-five division series with the Houston Astros.
This was a considerable upgrade in competition, not only facing the reigning World Series champion Astros on the road, but also taking on the great sports monster: football.
Combined, there have been few October football weekends to top this in the Twin Cities, with No. 2-rated Michigan taking on the Gophers with an evening kickoff Saturday, and defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City in the Zygidome for a 3:25 p.m. kickoff Sunday.
Plus, the possibility Taylor Swift, Queen of Swiftie Nation, could be here Sunday to watch her friend Travis Kelce with the Chiefs.
Considering these mighty distractions, the number of fans that showed up at Target Field was impressive. There was no charge to attend, but those interested were asked to register at Twins.com/watchparty.
The Twins said 6,000 people had done so, and it appeared a minimum of 80 percent actually showed up. They were directed to the mezzanine level and filled the Legends Club portion of the seats, and then some.
Admission free; beverages (alcoholic and others) and food, not so much.
There were cheers early when Edouard Julien and Jorge Polanco opened the top of the first with a walk and a base hit off Justin Verlander — not the former version with his pitches, but still the Iron King as a competitor.
Royce Lewis, hero of heroes for the these suddenly popular Twins, was greeted loudly by the folks watching the big screen. And then he hit into a double play.
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Verlander soon put up his first zero, and Twins starter Bailey Ober threw his first pitch, a high fastball. José Altuve, a high fastball hitter of note, hit it for a home run.
The Astros lead became 3-0, and then 5-0 in the sixth, and there was a chance to be trampled as interest in viewing the big screen dwindled and fans left through the Legends Club.
Houston manager Dusty Baker congratulated Verlander for his six scoreless innings and went to his bullpen.
Craig Hanlon and daughter Madison from Oakdale were among those stirring, although not yet hitting the exits.
"I was really excited after those two games last week," said Madison, 20. "This was disappointing, but we're not giving up."
Todd and Ellen Heggen, from Lakeville, are in on season tickets and attended 20 games this season.
"We love Target Field and just decided to be here with other fans," Todd said. "We got the tickets for Wednesday's game."
Pause. "Hopefully, there's a Wednesday game," he said. "There will be. These Twins aren't getting swept."
A few minutes later, the Twins had put together a four-run uprising against Houston's bullpen in the seventh and it was 5-4.
Great rally, but it didn't change the result. Yordan Alvarez hit his second home run, off fellow lefty Caleb Thielbar in the seventh, and Houston held on — 6-4 Astros in Game 1.
The busiest place in downtown Minneapolis an hour before the first pitch was Tom's Watch Bar on Sixth and Hennepin. It's part of a successful national chain, but opened here on the heels of both the pandemic and Hennepin's troubled reputation.
I've driven by out of curiosity in the evening, wondering if Tom's was going to make it here.
Answer: "Yes," if you give 'em football weekends like this.
"We had people in line a half-hour before we opened this morning," said Gabe, the employee running the 110 TVs. "We've been jammed all day."
Scores of Michigan fans, scores of Chiefs fans, plus an abundance of customers in Gophers wear and Twins hats.
As for the TVs, there was one small screen devoted to the Rangers-Orioles game. The other 109 had a variety of college football games.
Better exposure for baseball when the Twins start?
"For sure," Gabe said. "We're going to have 'em on that big screen over there."
The eight Twins headed for arbitration are Royce Lewis, Joe Ryan, Jhoan Duran, Bailey Ober, Ryan Jeffers, Willi Castro, Griffin Jax and Trevor Larnach.
