MINNEAPOLIS -- Ever wonder what would happen if Kirby Puckett and Kent Hrbek got their cracks at Justin Verlander? How about Jim Kaat staring down the likes of Harold Baines and Carlton Fisk?
No need to wonder any longer. Those Twins legends -- and many others -- will be featured in the second edition of the MLB Dream Bracket, which will simulate a 64-team tournament between "dream seasons" from each club's history. Each franchise will be represented by two all-time teams, joined by the 1994 Montreal Expos and three Negro League teams in a bracket that will be simulated on Out of the Park Baseball 21 starting Thursday. With the exception of the Negro League teams, all of the teams selected are post-World War II.
In all, the tournament rosters, as determined by MLB.com's beat writers in coordination with the clubs, include 92 Hall of Famers and 34 World Series-winning teams.
The Twins contributed to that tally, with the club represented by the 1991 Twins that triumphed over the Braves in a dramatic seven-game World Series, the most recent championship in team history. They will be joined by the 1965 club that brought the Twin Cities their first American League pennant shortly after the franchise's relocation to the Upper Midwest, but fell short of a World Series championship in a seven-game defeat to the Dodgers.
The 2010 club was also considered due to its ironclad bullpen and fan favorite hitters aplenty on the roster, including Joe Mauer, Michael Cuddyer, Justin Morneau, Denard Span, Jason Kubel and Jim Thome. That team won 94 games and the AL Central, but fell in an AL Division Series sweep to the Yankees. The 1987 club actually did win the World Series, of course, but wasn't seriously considered due to its middling record (85-77) and particular struggles away from the Metrodome.
But that's enough about the teams that didn't make the cut. Let's take a look at the two representative Twins squads and their matchups in the round of 64:
1965 Minnesota Twins
First-round opponent: 1983 Chicago White Sox
Featuring a powerful offense led by two future Hall of Famers, a starting rotation full of franchise greats and a veteran tandem at the back end of the bullpen, the 1965 squad was a well-rounded juggernaut that finished the regular season with a MLB-best 102-60 record before dropping the Fall Classic to the Dodgers, led by Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale. The '65 Twins were the only team in club history to eclipse the 100-win mark until the 2019 Twins finished 101-61.
Having prime Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva as anchors in the lineup certainly helped. "The Killer" had led the AL in homers in each of the previous three seasons, but suffered a dislocated elbow that sapped some of his production in 1965. Still, he led the team with 25 homers, tailed by a 26-year-old Oliva, who led the league in hits and batting average for the second straight season as he followed his '64 AL Rookie of the Year Award with a runner-up finish in MVP voting to teammate Zoilo Versalles, who came out of nowhere to win the award with a well-rounded offensive and defensive game.
That's not to mention the solid offensive contributions from Bob Allison, Don Mincher and Jimmie Hall, which were more than enough to support a stalwart pitching staff featuring Mudcat Grant, Kaat, Jim Perry and Camilo Pascual in the rotation ahead of closer Al Worthington. They draw the 1983 White Sox, who won 99 games with contributions from AL Rookie of the Year Award winner Ron Kittle and future Hall of Famers Fisk and Baines.
1991 Minnesota Twins
First-round opponent: 2019 Houston Astros
A worst-to-first story for the ages, the Twins finished dead last in the AL West in 1990, but added designated hitter Chili Davis and St. Paul native Jack Morris as free agents during the offseason to a roster that had mostly turned over from the club that had won the World Series only a few years earlier in '87. Thanks to that pair's immediate success and well-rounded production from the roster, the Twins got red-hot in June and didn't slow down until Gene Larkin's 10th-inning walk-off single in Game 7 of the World Series finished one of the most dramatic Fall Classics ever played.
Puckett, of course, was the centerpiece of that offense as an established fan favorite and franchise great surrounded by power threats in Hrbek, Davis and the underrated Shane Mack, along with a welcome table-setter in second baseman Chuck Knoblauch, who won the 1991 AL Rookie of the Year Award. The pitching staff had a strong top three in Morris, Kevin Tapani and Scott Erickson, who all proved durable and successful in setting up the bullpen headlined by closer Rick Aguilera.
They'll face a stiff first-round challenge in the 2019 Astros, who led the Majors with 107 wins thanks to an overwhelmingly deep offense and a starting rotation headlined by three aces: Verlander, Gerrit Cole and Zack Greinke.