We're Gonna Win, Twins: A Minnesotan Dynasty (1961-)

[bpbrooksy]

Prologue

It's a wonderful year to be a Minnesotan.

(Well, they all are. Having spent the majority of my life in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, I can attest to the unrivaled spirit of the state, whose marriage of the picturesque natural world with a vibrant metropolitan center defies anyone to deem it "flyover" territory.)

But 1961 is special. Despite recently losing their basketball team to California, the people of Minnesota were repaid in kind with two professional sports franchises in the same year: the expansion Minnesota Vikings, and the subject of this report, a scrappy little relocated team from the nation's capital.

First, a little history.

Since 1901, the Washington Senators had been one of the founding members of the American League. Defined by lifelong ace pitcher Walter "The Big Train" Johnson and manager-cum-owner Clark Griffith, the largely-mediocre ballclub won the 1924 World Series and strung together a few decades of otherwise unremarkable baseball. Griffith, elected to the Hall of Fame nine years before his death, passed away in 1955 and left the team to his nephew (and adopted son) Calvin Griffith.

With Major League Baseball continuing that proto-American ideal of westwardly manifesting destiny, the younger Griffith sold the Senators' stadium back to the city and began eyeing potential relocation destinations for a team in need of a kick in the pants. San Francisco was an early candidate, but the New York Giants got there first. Eventually, Calvin Griffith set his sights on the Twin Cities.

It took some convincing; the American League, understandably so, was initially hesitant to remove the national pastime from the national capital -- especially with a pending expansion, the first since the league's inception. A solution was eventually brokered -- with the league already planning to expand into Minneapolis, the ol' switcheroo was pulled: an expansion team would take over in Washington, and the existing Senators would be the ones to move into Minnesota instead.

The team would ultimately play their games in suburban Bloomington (in an outdoor facility shared with the expansion Vikings), but the christening of the team inspired some immediate statewide unity. Not wanting to isolate the fans from the opposite side of the Mississippi River (a factor that played into the departure of the Minneapolis Lakers), Griffith opted to name the team the Minnesota Twins.

It's a distinction reflected in the team's first logo: a player decked out in Minneapolis Millers gear shakes the hand of a man from the St. Paul Saints.

The rest, more or less, is history. But it's an interesting history, which begins at a fascinating time in the baseball mythos.

In this historical reimagining, it'll be my job to steer this team to more than the two championships that the real-life Twins have come away with since their inaugural season. It's my goal to pen a dynasty that can pair breezy, cleanly-formatted, enjoyable reading with an in-depth look at real artifacts of the time.

And, of course, to have a heck of a lot of fun. After all, as legendary Twins manager Tom Kelly said one fateful October evening in 1991, "Oh, hell. It's only a game."

Game on.

[Buster Cherry]

The Great Depression killed the Washington Senators much as it did the Philadelphia A's. By the late 1920's Clark Griffith had built a fine ballclub though it was overshadowed by the powerhouse A's and Yankees teams. Finally, in 1933, the Senators broke through and won the AL pennant over an aging Yankee team and an A's team that was just beginning its fire sale of players. The Senators lost the World Series to the Giants but many analysts felt that they could dominate the AL for the next few years. There was only one problem: Clark Griffith's only source of income was his baseball club and with attendance down because of the Depression he couldn't afford to keep his better players. Like Connie Mack in Philadelphia, he sold off his stars and the Senators soon plummeted into mediocrity where they remained until leaving town for Minnesota.

[bpbrooksy]

Originally Posted by Buster Cherry

The Great Depression killed the Washington Senators much as it did the Philadelphia A's. By the late 1920's Clark Griffith had built a fine ballclub though it was overshadowed by the powerhouse A's and Yankees teams. Finally, in 1933, the Senators broke through and won the AL pennant over an aging Yankee team and an A's team that was just beginning its fire sale of players. The Senators lost the World Series to the Giants but many analysts felt that they could dominate the AL for the next few years. There was only one problem: Clark Griffith's only source of income was his baseball club and with attendance down because of the Depression he couldn't afford to keep his better players. Like Connie Mack in Philadelphia, he sold off his stars and the Senators soon plummeted into mediocrity where they remained until leaving town for Minnesota.

Griffith Stadium was certainly a crucial boon. If it weren't for the Negro League teams, the Redskins, and college football squads renting the facility, the Senators wouldn't be scraping across marginal profits, and might have been forced out long before the domino that was the St. Louis Browns moving into Baltimore and soaking up the Maryland market. Then early Twins greats like Harmon Killebrew never make it to Minnesota, and the ripples continue.

The financial landscape of earlier baseball is simply fascinating. It's easy to look at the reserve clause-era as a more antiquated time, but with less billionaire owners, and more guys like Griffith (who mortgaged his ranch in his efforts to gain controlling interest in the Senators), there was a lot more on the line.

[bpbrooksy]

The Ground Rules

• This is a STATS ONLY league. My experience with Stats Only started many years ago, first as a challenge, and gradually morphing into my favorite way to play the game. I'm talking about true Stats Only, too -- "other ratings" will not be on. (This means things like trying a guy at a new position will involve actual trial and error, vs. a cursory glance at a rating number to determine whether or not he should play.) The lone exception to the rule concerns the amateur draft, when potential ratings -- with plenty of fog-of-war -- will be briefly turned on to assess the incoming talent. Otherwise, we'd be finagling with historical feeders, and I'd rather not worry about that.

• The OOTP development engine is ON. There's a time and place for Strat-o-Matic-style historical accuracy, but this simulation is not it! I'm excited to see where we divert from history here; although the league will evolve the way it did way back when, the player base may be following an entirely different course.

• Aging is at .750 and Talent Change Randomness is at 145.

• Given that the amateur draft is still a few years away, rookies will be imported as free agents.

• I'll be blaming the manager for everything that goes wrong.

[bpbrooksy]

End of Spring Training

April 9, 1961

Before we get into the day-to-day of running this ballclub, this is a great opportunity for a look into the whole organization -- how we're looking at the big-league level, who's coming up soon, and what the general sense of our talent level is.

With that, here's a look at our inaugural Opening Day Roster. (Next time around, we'll have a greater sense of direction, and it will be worthwhile to cover the spring training battles/cuts.)

All Stats from 1960

CATCHER

• Earl Battey (.270/.346/.427, 15 HR, 111 OPS+, 3.0 WAR)
• Hal Naragon (.207/.275/.228, 0 HR, 40 OPS+, -0.3 WAR)

Battey is only 26, but almost qualifies as a veteran after debuting in 1955 with the White Sox. He's coming off his first-ever Gold Glove win, while enjoying his best offensive season yet. This is mostly due to his becoming a full-time catcher; prior to last year, he'd never made more than 72 starts.

Behind him, Naragon is your prototypical light-hitting backup option. I can't foresee myself ever starting him against lefties. I can foresee him boarding the next train of Minnesota as soon as somebody on the farm demonstrates a lick of talent.

INFIELD

• 1B/3B/LF Harmon Killebrew (.276/.375/.534, 31 HR, 147 wRC+, 4.5 WAR)
• 1B Don Mincher (.241/.330/.392, 2 HR, 99 wRC+, 0.1 WAR)
• 2B/3B Billy Gardner (.257/.313/.363, 9 HR, 86 wRC+, 1.3 WAR)
• 2B/3B/SS Bob Meisner, AAA (.211/.324/.263, 0 HR, 0.2 WAR)
• 3B/2B Reno Bertoia (.263/.313/.359, 4 HR, 80 wRC+, 0.5 WAR)
• 3B/1B/CF/RF Joseph Christian, AAA (.268/.340/.413, 8 HR, 1.0 WAR)
• SS/2B Billy Consolo (.207/.310/.305, 3 HR, 71 wRC+, 0.2 WAR)
• SS Zoilo Versalles (.133/.170/.267, 0 HR, 14 wRC+, -0.3 WAR)

Right away, the Killer jumps out as the anchor of the infield. The well-built slugger profiles at first base, but will be seeing playing time at third and left this season. Sticking with that side of the infield, Oriole veteran Billy Gardner will be out at second; he's never been one for the bat, but is one of those scrappy, dependable types who can eat up a full season's worth of ballgames without hesitation. Both Killebrew and Gardner have a platoon man behind them; Meisner, the rookie, will get his fair share of looks, while Mincher projects to get a lot of starts at first as Harmon roves around the diamond.

There's not much else to write home about here. Versalles is probably the most interesting guy here, an incredibly green 21-year-old Cuban shortstop with good minor-league numbers and almost no major-league track record. Christian is an old rookie at 29, but earned his spot after a good 1960 in the minors.

OUTFIELD

• LF Jim Lemon (.269/.354/.508, 38 HR, 130 wRC+, 3.9 WAR)
• CF Lenny Green (.294.383/.430, 5 HR, 120 wRC+, 2.6 WAR)
• LF/CF Everette Joyner, AA (.307/.396/.461, 17 HR, 3.4 WAR)
• RF Bob Allison (.251/.367/.413, 15 HR, 115 wRC+, 2.5 WAR)

The bulk of our offense resides on the outfield grass. Lemon is the middle-of-the-order complement to Killebrew; he'll likely do the cleanup hitting and give Harmon some much-needed protection in the order. Green is the stolen base threat, with 21 bags from last season, the most of anybody on the roster. Allison is one of the most exciting faces here -- two seasons removed from a Rookie of the Year win, he's just 26 and can hang with the big boppers without striking out all over the place.

Joyner is 33 and has never made the show. That will change after a great all-around showing in Double-A last season, where his leadership and hard work made as many headlines as his solid offensive campaign did. He'll be a lefty option off the bench, spelling all three outfielders as needed.



ROTATION

• RHP Camilo Pascual (12-8, 3.03 ERA, 8.5 K/9, 126 ERA+, 4.4 WAR)
• RHP Pedro Ramos (11-18, 3.45 ERA, 5.3 K/9, 111 ERA+, 4.2 WAR)
• LHP Jack Kralick (8-6, 3.04 ERA, 4.2 K/9, 126 ERA+, 2.1 WAR)
• RHP Don Lee (8-7, 3.44 ERA, 4.8 K/9, 111 ERA+, 1.4 WAR)
• LHP Jim Kaat (1-5, 5.58 ERA, 4.5 K/9, 68 ERA+, -0.6 WAR)

The success of our inaugural season will likely fall on the backs of the starting pitching. With only a couple proven offensive weapons, it will be up to this rotation to repeat their performances from last year. All five were with the franchise in 1960, all five are young guys in/entering their prime, and all five can carry this team to some wins.

Pascual and Ramos are the 1-2 punch here. Pascual has the edge with two straight All-Star selections and the only strikeout stuff on the entire team. I'm expecting Kralick to take a step forward if he can stay healthy. Don Lee is traditional back-of-the-rotation fodder, and hopefully can get bumped down to #5 is Jim Kaat starts improving. Kaat is still raw, but there's a lot to be excited about there.

BULLPEN

• LR Sonny Dixon, AA (3-1, 2.52 ERA, 3.4 K/9, 159 ERA+, 1.8 WAR)
• MR Jack Taylor, A (11-14, 3.50 ERA, 5.5 K/9, 114 ERA+, 3.2 WAR)
• MR Wally Seward, AA (6-8, 5.14 ERA, 4.9 K/9, 78 ERA+, 1.4 WAR)
• MR Jackie Collum, AA (6-8, 4.04 ERA, 3.9 K/9, 99 ERA+, 1.3 WAR)
• SET Chuck Stobbs (12-7, 3.32 ERA, 5.4 K/9, 115 ERA+, 1.2 WAR)
• STOP Ray Moore (4-3, 13 SV, 3.54 ERA, 3.3 K/9, 108 ERA+, -0.6 WAR)

This is probably the clearest weak spot of the team. The guys with minor-league numbers aren't young phenoms, they're a group of folks in their 30's who have bounced around various levels for the last decade or so. Almost by default, then, Stobbs and Moore are manning the back end, which isn't exactly the hottest spot for either of them. If the Twins decide to make it interesting this year, addressing the relief may be one of our first goals.

[bpbrooksy]

Looking Ahead

Before we get into some baseball games, let's take a quick peek down at the farm system. First of all, here IS the farm system:

• AAA Syracuse Chiefs
• AA Nashville Volunteers
• A Charlotte Hornets
• A Wilson Tobs
• BC Erie Sailors
• BC Wytheville Twins
• DE Fort Walton Beach Jets

We'll be checking in on the farm every couple of months or so...perhaps 2-3 times a season. The Minnesota system is currently ranked 15th, ahead of only the Kansas City Athletics and the expansion Senators, whose system is less of a farm and more of a garden.

The aforementioned 1B Don Mincher is the only top-100 prospect on the Minnesota roster, though reliever Lee Stange (99th) will probably be joining him after the first pitching injury. Utility man Jimmy Hall (81st) and infielder Rich Rollins (58th) are names to remember, but the real star here is Tony Oliva (27th), a recently-signed amateur outfielder, who will be heading directly to Triple-A Syracuse for his first look at professional ball.

Around the MLB, some noteworthy names are popping up on farms across the country. SP Bob Locker (Chicago White Sox) is the game's number-one prospect. The top 10 is full of pitchers, actually -- Gaylord Perry, Dean Chance, Mickey Lolich, Wilbur Wood...but don't sleep on C Rico Carty (Milwaukee) or LF Carl Yastrzemski (Boston), either.

[splat58]

Looking forward to following this. Are you using recalc at all?

[bpbrooksy]

Originally Posted by splat58

Looking forward to following this. Are you using recalc at all?

Glad to hear it! No recalc for this one. Just gonna let the game do its thing and see what happens. I enjoy the potential for the unexpected Hall of Fame careers/early busts.

[bpbrooksy]

April 11th, 1961

VS

This is the Yankees' league.

Eleven of the last fourteen American League pennants have been brought home by the Bronx Bombers, whose heart of the order features the ever-dangerous M&M Boys. It's already a tough enough lineup to face, but throw in today's Opening Day pitcher -- the Chairman of the Board himself -- and we have a tough task ahead for our first-ever series as the Minnesota Twins.

NEW YORK (1-0) - 14
MINNESOTA (0-1) - 6
WP: Whitey Ford (1-0) / LP: Camilo Pascual (0-1) / SV: Luis Arroyo (1)

We got stomped.

It was a tale of two innings; a four-spot in the fifth pushed us to a 6-2 lead after some early control issues from Whitey Ford (7 BB, 7 K), but Camilo Pascual gave it all back and them some in the home half. The Yankees hung up a 7-spot capped by a Bill Skowron grand slam. The Twins wouldn't score again, and New York would tag Jackie Collum for five more in the eighth.

April 13th, 1961

MINNESOTA (1-1) - 5
NEW YORK (1-1) - 3
WP: Pedro Ramos (1-0) / LP: Ralph Terry (0-1)

This Elston Howard fella is a tricky little fella. Another homer for him today, three hits, and he scored twice. Thankfully, we have a power threat, too -- and today, cleanup man Jim Lemon proved the difference with a decisive three-run shot in the seventh.

Both he and Killebrew knocked in runs today, thanks in no small part to Green and Gardner (the G&G boys?) going 6-for-10 at the top of the order. Pedro Ramos went the distance, and while we were outhit, we kept the really dangerous guys off the bases.

It was a quick trip through the Bronx, but we still have just under a week left on the east coast.

April 14th, 1961

VS

We've got four games on deck with the Baltimore Orioles, including a double-header this Sunday. The O's are in an interesting spot; they just had their first winning season in 15 years, making it all the way to second place, but still finished 7.5 back of the powerhouse Yankees. Their key guys are all pretty young (Steve Barber, Brooks Robinson, and Ron Hansen are all 23 and younger.)

We don't have a natural beef with Baltimore -- we play for a different city now -- but their encroachment upon our market back in D.C. is certainly still lingering in the minds of some of our players.

BALTIMORE (3-0) - 1
MINNESOTA (1-2) - 0
WP: Steve Barber (1-0) / LP: Jack Kralick (0-1)

Maybe it was a little TOO distracting, because we nearly got no-hit. Jim Lemon broke up Barber's no-hitter with a 7th-inning double, but couldn't even make it to third base. Jack Kralick pitched great for his own right, but made two mistake pitches -- both to Jim Gentile, who knocked two solo shots for the game's only scores.

April 15th, 1961

BALTIMORE (4-0) - 3
MINNESOTA (1-3) - 0
WP: Milt Pappas (1-0) / LP: Don Lee (0-1)

What happened to our bats?

Maybe the Yankees should be worried. It's another shutout for Baltimore, this time a three-hit beauty from Milt Pappas, who had six strikeouts in the win. Like yesterday, our starter (Don Lee) pitched a decent game (7.1 IP, 5 H, 4 ER), but a bases-loaded walk was part of a hard-to-escape jam in a three-run 4th for the O's.

Baltimore is now the only undefeated team in the league. It'd be a nice statement on our behalf to knock them down a peg tomorrow and potentially salvage a series split.

April 16th, 1961

MINNESOTA (2-3) - 2
BALTIMORE (4-1) - 1
WP: Camilo Pascual (1-1) / LP: Jack Fisher (1-1) / SV: Ray Moore (1)

Nice start.

It's been pitcher's duels all weekend at Memorial Stadium, but we finally came out on top of one. It's fitting that it was our number one starter who got us over the hump -- Pascual walked five, but scattered three mostly harmless hits around the passes and allowed the Orioles' only run in seven innings of work.

Jack Fisher had a very similar day for Baltimore (7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 4 BB). Lenny Green had our only RBI hit.

MINNESOTA (3-3) - 7
BALTIMORE (4-2) - 3
F/10
WP: Jackie Collum (1-0) / LP: Billy Hoeft (0-1)

And then, just as I asked for, we won again! The nightcap went 10 innings, which meant that we needed to get some quality work out of a bullpen full of question marks. Well, we did -- Chuck Stobbs had a scoreless eighth and Jackie Collum pitched two perfect innings. It was Billy Hoeft, the Baltimore lefty, who blinked first -- Zoilo Versalles hit a three-run jolt off him in the top of the 10th.

It was a needed boost for Zoilo, who went 2-for-4 and only raised his average to .176. It's nowhere near the worst mark on the team, though; the offense was quite frozen by the pitching in Birdland this weekend.

Escaping with a last-second split is about as much as I could ask for against a team that projects to be right up there in the thick of it in 1961. In fact, splits and hanging with teams in the thick of it may be the reasonable expectation for these Minnesota Twins. But until proven otherwise, I'm going to keep my lofty expectations.

Week in Review

• AL Player of the Week: 3B Steve Boros, DET (8-for-19, 5 HR, 8 RBI)
• NL Player of the Week: LF Wally Moon, LAD (9-for-22, 6 HR, 13 RBI)
• RF Willie Kirkland (CLE) hits for the cycle in a loss to Detroit.
• RP Don Newcombe will probably miss the rest of the year after tearing his rotator cuff in his first start back with the Dodgers.
• Whitey Ford, still struggling with his control, finds a reason to take it out on rookie outfielder Ronald Solomini. The argument is broken up by Yankee manager Ralph Houk.

POWER RANKINGS
1. Chicago Cubs (4-1)
2. Detroit Tigers (4-1)
3. San Francisco Giants (4-2)
4. Los Angeles Dodgers (4-2)
5. Baltimore Orioles (4-2)
...10. Minnesota Twins (3-3)

[PocketsAintFull]

Originally Posted by bpbrooksy

• I'll be blaming the manager for everything that goes wrong.

Sold!

[bpbrooksy]

April 19, 1961

VS

Before the game, we got word that our 36-year-old reliever Sonny Dixon will be calling it a career at the end of the season. It's not a particularly sentimental piece of news, as Dixon only played a year and a half in the organization and hasn't pitched for the franchise since 1954 (when he led the American League with a convenient 54 appearances.)

The bullpen already projects to see a ton of turnover, so it's not like this move adds any mental stress.

Meanwhile, the Twins are completing the last leg of their week-long east coast road trip. It's a two-game set against the Boston Red Sox, who have been a middling team these last few seasons and are looking for their first playoff appearance in 15 years.

Boston Red Sox (4-2) - 7
Minnesota Twins (3-4) - 0
WP: David Busby (2-0) / LP: Pedro Ramos (1-1)

They looked pretty good against us on Tuesday afternoon. Rookie starter David Busby pitched into the ninth inning and did most of the work in a 7-0 shutout. On the flip side, Pedro Ramos wasn't missing too many bats, walking four and only striking out one while giving up the seven Boston runs on just eight hits. Outfielder Jackie Jensen drove in three.

In the opposite league, young pitching phenom Ernie Broglio tears a rotator cuff and will miss the rest of the season. Broglio won a league-leading 21 games with the St. Louis Cardinals last year with a 2.74 ERA; some had tagged him for an All-Star appearance this summer. No longer.

April 20th, 1961

Boston Red Sox (5-2) - 11
Minnesota Twins (3-5) - 3
WP: Ike Delock (1-0) / LP: Chuck Stobbs (0-1)

Not a good trip to Boston. Glad to be heading home.

The Twins were up 3-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh. Jack Kralick had departed early with a sore back; the early diagnosis only has him out for a couple of days, thankfully. Sonny Dixon held the BoSox for an inning and a half, but then gave way to Chuck Stobbs.

Stobbs looked fine in Baltimore earlier this week, but this was not his day. He coughed up six runs on four hits, only able to record one out in his appearance. Wally Seward didn't fare much better in mop-up duty, walking three and letting in three in a nightmare nine-run seventh.

It's early, of course, but we're dead last with 45 runs already allowed; the lineup is hitting a combined .202, and the bullpen has an 8.45 ERA.

Time to go home for a weekend reset. Ideally, we can get some momentum back in Minneapolis before embarking on another multi-city road trip.

April 21st, 1961

VS

If you've ever been to the Mall of America, you've been to the burial ground of Metropolitan Stadium. Located in Bloomington -- a suburb of the Twin Cities metro area -- the stadium originated as the home of the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association. Now, it's Twins Territory, although the ~30,000-seat facility will also inaugurate the Vikings later this fall.

It's lined up so that our biggest-ticket pitcher, Camilo Pascual, will take the ball. He's facing one of the American League's two new expansion clubs -- the Washington Senators, who replaced us in the vacated capital. They're throwing up Tom Sturdivant, who's played for four teams in the last three years.

FINAL/11
Minnesota Twins (4-5) - 7
Washington Senators (3-6) - 5
WP: Jack Taylor (1-0) / LP: John Gabler (0-1)

What a game! What a home opener!

The Twins and Senators traded blows through the first half of the game, with at least one team scoring in each of the first four innings. It was 5-3 Twins until the eighth, when the Senators brought it back to within one. Then, facing stopper Ray Moore with one out in the ninth, Washington left fielder Marty Keough singled in the game-tying run.

But Bob Allison wasn't going to led the fans go home disappointed. With his third hit of the afternoon, he smoked a walk-off two-run homer into left field, scoring himself and Harmon Killebrew. The team crowded around at home plate (for both celebration and body heat; it was 48 degrees but with some strong wind).

April 22nd, 1961

Washington Senators (4-6) - 5
Minnesota Twins (4-6) - 4
WP: Joe McClain (1-1) / LP: Don Lee (0-2)

It was a cleanly-pitched game by Joe McClain, who went the distance and showed flashes of vulnerability in just one inning -- the home sixth, when Minnesota took their only lead of the day with a four-run inning. Jim Lemon knocked in two today, but is still hitting just .167.

In fact, most of the team is well under .100. Lenny Green has the highest average, at .302 out of the leadoff spot, but it's probably Billy Gardner and his 114 wRC+ that's been the best on the team so far. Gardner is hitting in the two-spot; with more walks than whiffs, he has been setting up plenty of opportunities for the big boppers -- it's just that Killebrew, Lemon, and Allison have all had sluggish starts. Harmon hasn't homered yet. Yikes.

April 23rd, 1961

Minnesota Twins (5-6) - 6
Washington Senators (4-7) - 1
WP: Pedro Ramos (2-1) / LP: Bennie Daniels (1-2)

We come away from our all-too-brief homestand with a series win against Washington. We had to get out to Kansas City immediately after this one, but Pedro Ramos seemed like he was just settling into the cold. He scattered four hits and one run in eight innings of work. He got no help from Killebrew and Billy Consolo, who each made a pair of errors today. Earl Battey had a three-run homer that helped put the game away in a five-run eighth.

Week in Review

• AL Player of the Week: CF Mickey Mantle, NYY (.414, 2 HR, 4 RBI)
• NL Player of the Week: CF Willie Mays, SFG (.360, 6 HR, 9 RBI)
  
  Quite a duo.
  

POWER RANKINGS
1. Los Angeles Dodgers (10-3)
2. Detroit Tigers (7-3)
3. Baltimore Orioles (8-4)
4. Pittsburgh Pirates (8-4)
5. Boston Red Sox (7-4)
...11. Minnesota Twins (5-6)

The American League teams are all within four games of one another in the early goings, but the National League is seeing Philadelphia (4-9) and, most notably, Cincinnati (2-9) slipping away from the conversation as April wanes away.