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The 12th World Series had Minnesota at 106-56 trying to become the team with the most wins to win the title. Philadelphia had the wins record the prior year at 115, but lost the Fall Classic to Washington. The Phillies were back for 1895 hoping to avenge that defeat. The Twins were hoping to avoid the same fate as Philly and the 114-win Boston Braves from 1889, who also failed to win it all.

Minnesota opened with an 8-4 home victory on a workhorse performance by Brownie Foreman. He tossed 140 pitches in a complete game, allowing six hits, three earned runs, two walks, and two homers with six strikeouts. Dick Johnston’s two-run homer in the fifth put the Twins up 4-3. Philly tied it in the top of the seventh, but Minnesota had three in the bottom half.



In game two, the Twins led 4-3 entering the ninth inning. In the top half, Bug Holliday hit a solo home run to tie the game. In the bottom half, Ed Swartwood got a leadoff single on the first pitch he saw and was bunted to second. Pinch hitter Bill Van Dyke then hit the RBI walkoff single in a 5-4 Minnesota win. Dick Johnston was 4-4 on the day with an RBI.



Philadelphia won a pitcher’s duel 2-1 at home in game three. Both starters went seven innings with the Phillies’ Silver King giving up one run and the Twins’ Zeke Wilson allowing two.



Minnesota got the first road win of the series in game four, taking a 3-1 series lead on an 8-6 victory. The Twins went ahead with a four-run sixth inning that included a two-run Billy Alvord homer. Philadelphia’s Tom Kinslow had a three-run homer in the eighth to make it a two run game, but they went down 1-2-3 in the ninth.



The Twins exploded for a five-run second inning including a three-run bomb by Dick Johnston. They held on from there for a 6-4 final, ending the series on the road in five games. Johnston was the series MVP, going 8-21 with 2 homers and 7 RBI. He joined Tony Mullane (White Sox, 1884) and Fred Roat (Yankees, 1892) as players to win World Series MVP and LCS MVP in the same campaign.



The 32-year old Johnston has been with the Twins since 1884 and has been a steady starter, but not an overly dominant bat with a career 109 wRC+. In 10 starts, he had 18 hits, 9 runs, 3 doubles, 1 triple, 6 homers, 17 RBI, .450/.488/1.025 slash, 290 wRC+, and 1.2 WAR. Johnston’s slugging and 1.513 OPS set new MLB playoff records and he tied the homers record.

Brownie Foreman also notably became the first pitcher to record four wins in a playoff run. The rookie won each of his starts with a 2.48 ERA over 32.2 innings, 28 Ks, and 0.6 WAR.



With their first title, the 1895 Twins stake their claim as an all-time team. Minnesota also notably was 8-2 in the playoffs, which are the fewest losses by a champion in a playoff run yet. It was the fifth consecutive win for the American League, who has won 10 of the first 12 World Series. They’ve done it during a run of overall parity, as there have been eight different champs in as many years. The Phillies join Buffalo (1892-93) as the only teams to lose back-to-back in the World Series.