Eight wins in 12 games to start the season as the Minnesota Twins in first place in the American League Central and off to one of the best starts in franchise history.
It’s just 12 games so it doesn’t mean they’re guaranteed to win 100+ games and lock up a playoff spot, but the 8-4 mark is pretty rare air. In fact, this is just the fifth Twins team to start 8-4 or better going back to 1989, and just the 11th team to do it in 59 years as a franchise going back to 1961.
- 2018: 7-5
- 2017: 7-5
- 2016: 3-9
- 2015: 5-7
- 2014: 6-6
- 2013: 5-7
- 2012: 4-8
- 2011: 4-8
- 2010: 9-3 (finished 94-68, lost ALDS to Yankees)
- 2009: 5-7
- 2008: 6-6
- 2007: 7-5
- 2006: 6-6
- 2005: 8-4 (finished 83-79, no playoffs)
- 2004: 8-4 (finished 92-70, lost ALDS to Yankees)
- 2003: 6-6
- 2002: 7-5
- 2001: 9-3 (finished 85-77, no playoffs)
- 2000: 4-8
- 1999: 5-7
- 1998: 6-6
- 1997: 6-6
- 1996: 5-7
- 1995: 4-8
- 1994: 4-8
- 1993: 7-5
- 1992: 4-8
- 1991: 3-9 *won World Series*
- 1990: 6-6
- 1989: 7-5
- 1988: 4-8
- 1987: 8-4 (finished 85-77, won World Series)
- 1986: 5-7
- 1985: 3-9
- 1984: 7-5
- 1983: 5-7
- 1982: 5-7
- 1981: 3-9
- 1980: 5-7
- 1979: 7-5
- 1978: 6-6
- 1977: 6-6
- 1976: 5-7
- 1975: 4-8
- 1974: 6-5-1
- 1973: 8-4 (finished 81-81, no playoffs)
- 1972: 9-3 (finished 77-77, no playoffs)
- 1971: 4-8
- 1970: 8-4 (finished 98-64, lost ALCS to Orioles)
- 1969: 7-5
- 1968: 8-4 (finished 79-83, no playoffs)
- 1967: 5-7
- 1966: 5-7
- 1965: 8-4 (finished 102-60, lost World Series to Dodgers)
- 1964: 7-5
- 1963: 4-8
- 1962: 5-7
- 1961: 9-3 (finished 70-90, no playoffs)
The 2001 and 2010 teams own the top spot for best 12-game start over the past 30 years.
The 2010 Twins extended a 9-3 start to 13-5 and 19-9 before hitting the skids a bit against the Yankees and Red Sox. They found themselves 26-20 nearing the end of May and an underwhelming 46-42 mark at the All-Star break.
They got super hot in the second half and finished with 94 wins before being swept by the Yankees in the playoffs.
The 2001 Twins roared to a 30-13 record by mid-May. They dropped 12 of 16 games in mid-June, but even with that losing skid they were 42-30 and then won 15 of the next 18 for a 57-33 record on July 14 – the high point of a season that ended with 85 wins and no playoffs.
The 2001 Twins remain memorable because it featured Torii Hunter, Doug Mientzkiewicz, Jacque Jones, Christian Guzman, Corey Koskie and A.J. Pierzynski. That core group added Joe Mauer in Justin Morneau a couple years later, in addition to Johan Santana developing into one of baseball’s best pitchers by 2004. That group went to win six division titles between 2002 and 2010.
No team in Twins history, going all the way back to 1961, has started with 10 wins in 12 games.
