Some very bright minds have been rendered ridiculous when trying to surmise anything of substance from small numbers of baseball games. The stakes might be immense within the pulse of the postseason, but, when you get right down to it, these are still short series, which is to say anything

MINNEAPOLIS -- Carlos Correa was sitting on his couch at home with his wife, Daniella, last October. He wasn’t used to that; the quiet and solitude felt so distant from where he usually was that time of year -- in the midst of the biggest moments and the loudest crowds.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Moments after the Blue Jays’ season ended on Wednesday night at Target Field, the clubhouse doors swung open and the real world tiptoed in. So much goes unsaid in these moments. An MLB clubhouse is a sacred place for those who call it home, and in an instant,

MINNEAPOLIS -- Entering this postseason, the prospect of a run deeper into October might have seemed unfathomable to a fanbase that knew only playoff heartbreak for the better part of two decades -- but the Twins finally shook off the weight of history on Tuesday.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Another Blue Jays season has crashed to its heartbreaking end, and one of the lasting images will be Vladimir Guerrero Jr., right arm reaching out to his own dugout for a miracle as the Twins roared in celebration around him. In one of the biggest moments of Wednesday’s

MINNEAPOLIS -- One question will hang over the Blue Jays’ offseason, which began on Wednesday with a sudden thud after they were swept in the American League Wild Card Series. Why, with José Berríos steamrolling through the Twins’ lineup, did they make the switch to Yusei Kikuchi? Berríos had just

MINNEAPOLIS -- October, meet Royce Lewis. The rookie with a flair for the biggest moments continued building his already expansive Twins legacy by homering in the first two postseason plate appearances of his career -- and leaving his teammates and coaches struggling to find the words to describe it all.

MINNEAPOLIS -- What a difference one day can make. Carrying the cloud of their 18-game postseason losing streak into this American League Wild Card Series, the Twins finally broke free of history with a 3-1 win over the Blue Jays and immediately put themselves on the doorstep of their first

MINNEAPOLIS -- At last. At long last. Absolution. It took an ace pitcher who arrived to the ballpark in the jersey of his childhood idol, singularly determined to follow in his footsteps. It took an overlooked kid from North St. Paul and a veteran from Northfield getting the biggest outs

The best part of the MLB playoffs is how much one day can change everything. Yesterday, we were talking about how the Rays had been rolling the final week of the season, how well the Brewers were set up for October, and how the Twins seemingly were never going to

MINNEAPOLIS -- It takes a little bit of magic to exorcize 19 years’ worth of postseason demons. Luckily for the Twins, they employ the man who is all but synonymous with playoff magic. How else can one describe Carlos Correa’s heads-up, athletic defensive gem that saved a run for the

MINNEAPOLIS -- Edouard Julien's breakout season began long before Opening Day, when the then-little-known prospect crashed the international scene in the World Baseball Classic with a tournament-best 1.821 OPS while acting as his country’s table-setter in the leadoff spot ahead of Freddie Freeman. That breakout began with “Canada” stamped across

MINNEAPOLIS -- Is Yusei Kikuchi a short relief option, a fallback bulk guy or the Game 3 starter? “When you get to this point, it’s all hands on deck,” manager John Schneider said. Coming into Game 1 of the American League Wild Card Series on Tuesday, Kikuchi was scheduled to

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Blue Jays just got rolled by Royce. All of the Blue Jays’ old ghosts were out to haunt them in their Game 1 loss to the Twins, 3-1, at Target Field on Tuesday, but it’s Royce Lewis they’ll be seeing in their nightmares. Lewis launched two home

MINNEAPOLIS -- There’s an advantage to familiarity, and no Blue Jays player knows this city like José Berríos. Berríos was one of the faces of the Twins' organization for six seasons, a homegrown star who developed from a high schooler into one of the game’s most reliable starting pitchers. He’s

The road to the World Series begins with the Battle for the North. The chaos of the American League West and Wild Card races finally resolved on Sunday to set up what had seemed to be an unlikely border battle between Canada and the Upper Midwest in the Wild Card

MINNEAPOLIS -- Carlos Correa and Royce Lewis are in. Byron Buxton is out. And with no other surprises, the 26 men tasked with ending the Twins’ 18-game playoff losing streak are locked in.

This story was excerpted from Do-Hyoung Park’s Twins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

The playoffs … are here. Nearly every night for the next month, there will be baseball with the highest possible stakes, games played of titanic magnitude. And these will be played all day. This is the fun part. This is what you were waiting for. • 2023 Wild Card Series

This story was excerpted from Keegan Matheson’s Blue Jays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

TORONTO -- It only took 161 games and four hours, but the 2023 Blue Jays are finally headed to the postseason. Toronto clinched its spot late Saturday with help from a Mariners loss, which finally made the math work. The Blue Jays have taken the long road to this clinch

MINNEAPOLIS -- Lock it in. The Blue Jays have announced their 26-man roster for the Wild Card Series with no surprises.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Monday’s workout day was no mere formality and tune-up for the Twins; it was a very significant final chance for them to evaluate the health of their three franchise cornerstones -- Carlos Correa, Royce Lewis and Byron Buxton -- as they make their final roster decisions for the

TORONTO -- Stop the count and pop the champagne, the Blue Jays are headed to Minneapolis. Toronto clinched its postseason spot late Saturday but saved the champagne celebration for after Game 162, and by then, the chaotic and complicated AL Wild Card race had finally been settled. With Toronto’s loss

MINNEAPOLIS -- At his best, Kevin Gausman is the immovable object the Blue Jays orbit around. Gausman is the kind of cool you wish you could be, dominating with a smirk and a shrug. Ask his teammates to describe him, and you’ll get back some worrying medical reports. “It just