As their fight song goes, the Minnesota Twins won, they scored, they watched that baseball soar — like never before.
The Twins on Wednesday captured their first A.L. Central division title in nine years with a 5-1 win in Detroit and Cleveland’s 8-3 loss to the White Sox.
After making their final out, the Twins watched the final hour or so of the White Sox loss in the clubhouse and sprayed each other with champagne when it was over.
Luis Arraez and Eddie Rosario homered and Randy Dobnak allowed one hit in six sparkling innings.
At 98-60, the Twins have their most victories since 1970 and are tied with this year’s New York Yankees for the most home runs by a major league team in a season with 299.
That kind of firepower could help fuel the Twins’ first playoff series win since 2002. The Yankees eliminated Minnesota in 2003, ’04, ’09, ’10, and ’17, winning 13 of 15 games, including a wild card game in New York two years ago. Overall, the Twins are 3-20 in seven postseason appearances since winning their second World Series in 1991.
The Yankees would face the Twins in the ALDS if the postseason started today, a meeting of the No. 2 and 3 seeds, with the Yankees getting home field advantage in a best-of-five series. New York beat Minnesota in four of the teams’ six regular season meetings.
The division title celebration was one of two parties after the Twins’ win in Detroit. The team presented rookie manager Rocco Baldelli with a cake to celebrate his 38th birthday.
