The Twins enter September in control of a Wild Card spot and on a roll, not only in the win column with four straight victories, but also on the high of doing something that’s never been done in franchise history.
Minnesota made history Thursday when Max Kepler reached 20 RBI for the month of August, making him the fifth Twins player in August with at least 20 RBI.
1st time in @Twins history team has had 5 players with 20-plus RBI in a month:
Rosario (25)
Polanco (23)
Buxton (22)
Dozier (22)
Kepler (21)— Dustin Morse (@morsecode) August 31, 2017
Based on our research, this is just the third time it’s been done since 2008.
- 2017 Twins in August
- 2016 Red Sox in May
- 2008 Red Sox in August
- Eddie Rosario (25)
- Jorge Polanco (23)
- Byron Buxton (22)
- Brian Dozier (22)
- Max Kepler (21)
- David Ortiz (28)
- Jackie Bradley Jr. (24)
- Mookie Betts (23)
- Xander Bogaerts (20)
- Travis Shaw (20)
- Jason Bay (29)
- Manny Ramirez (25)
- Kevin Youkilis (24)
- Jed Lowrie (24)
- Dustin Pedroia (20)
The 2008 Red Sox actually traded for Jason Bay and Manny Ramirez on July 31. Had they not done so, they likely wouldn’t have made this list.
Generally, there’s about 15-20 players who reach 20+ RBI every month. But in April of 2015 only four players in the entire league reached 20+, and in July of 2014 only six guys did it.
Clearly, five on one team is pretty crazy.
Statistically, it’s happened in only 5 percent of the 59 months of regular season baseball since the start of the 2008 season. Meanwhile, no team had more than two players with 20+ RBI in 31 of those 59 months (52.5 percent of the months).
Even getting four players to 20 RBI in a month is rare. Outside of the Twins and Red Sox teams that had five, the 2016 Orioles (in June) are the only other team since 2008 with four players at that level.
