Post-season Gameday Thread, #5: Designated hitters

2:07 pm - Twins @ Yankees (0-1)

The Twins have now lost 14 consecutive post-season games, though perhaps there’s an omen in that their last victory was 15 years ago to the day, and came against the same opponents in the same city. On October 5, 2014, they beat the Yankees 2-0, Johan Santana (above) throwing seven shutout innings in the first game of the ALDS. Since then? 0-14. And eleven of those defeats have been at the hands of the same Yankees, with the only exception being the 2006 Division Series, where they were swept by the Athletics. It is the longest-ever losing streak in the post-season. Yesterday’s defeat broke a tie with the Red Sox, who lost 13 straight between 1986 and 1995.

6:07 pm - Rays @ Astros (0-1)

Well, hopefully, this game might be a bit more competitive than the first game of the day, which was effectively terminated as a meaningful entity with the Yankees’ seven-run third inning. Looks like 15 post-season losses in a row for the Twins. Harsh though it is to say so, that’s probably what you should expect to happen when you have a starting pitcher who was driving for Uber last winter. Anyway, onto Houston, and the Rays behind Blake Snell will look to do better against Gerrit Cole and the Astros, than they managed in the opener. I do have to say, the ALDS match-ups thus far have looked a great deal more one-sided than the NLDS contests. If it’s not Yankees vs. Astros in the ALCS, I’m going to be quite surprised.