Baseball is here, and everything is going to be OK

I, for one, love reading sports preview posts. Who is going to be in the playoffs? Where will the Twins finish in the AL Central (2nd)? Who will the surprises be? What do other people think about those very questions? I like reading them, certainly, but I don’t like writing them. I am more than happy to make a few quick prognostications, which you will find below, but mostly, I am here to celebrate the dawning of the 2018 season. It’s here! We’ve done it!

Some soft predictions on the Twins season:
Team leaders:
BA – Joe Mauer
HR – Brian Dozier
WAR – Byron Buxton
Starting Pitcher ERA – Jose Berrios
Wins – Jose Berrios
Saves – Addison Reed

Gosh, by the looks of that it seems like they over extended on all their new free agents, doesn’t it? No, that’s not true. I went out and used logic instead of gut on all these picks. Dozier is a slugger who will get more at bats than anyone, Buxton gains value by being an exemplary fielder, Berrios is going to be the third starter, which will put him against opposing aces a little less frequently, and we saw how Fernando Rodney looked on Thursday… Reed will be closing by the All Star Break.

Some other miscellaneous predictions:
The Twins will send three players to the All Star Game – Mauer, Dozier and Buxton
The Twins will see the following prospects at some point this season – Stephen Gonsalves, Nick Gordon, Zach Littell, Tyler Jay, Felix Jorge and  Jake Cave, and of course, the three from the top 30 prospect list that spent a lot of time on the roster last year – Zach Granite, Mitch Garver (already on the team) and John Curtiss.
Most pleasant surprise – Tasked less with hitting lefties, Max Kepler will excel.
Biggest disappointment – Ervin Santana will be nowhere close to what he was in 2017.

Now that the season is on going, I will be producing the Daily Target with a quick recap of the game from the day before and a look at the headlines of the world of Minnesota Twins baseball, but at some point early in the season, probably May, there will be a bit of a hiatus. You see, my wife and I are expecting twins of our own, two little boys who will undoubtedly make regular blogging nearly impossible, at least in the beginning. You’ll know they are here by my absence.

Of course, you know the Minnesota Twins are hear now, because the regular posting is back for now. Go Twins! Yay baseball!