Major League Baseball’s Opening Day is just around the corner. With this in mind, it is time to take a look at predictions for each time going into the 2021 season following 2020’s pandemic shortened season.

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The Minnesota Twins finished the last two seasons with two AL Central titles. Last season, they placed fourth in ERA, posting a 3.58 ERA. In regards to the offense, Minnesota finished 19th in the league in runs scored with 269 runs and sixth in home runs with 91 homers. Over the past 19 seasons, the Twins have made the postseason nine times but have not made it to the World Series.

Check out Minnesota’s projected starters.

Minnesota Twins Projected Batting Order:

1. OF Max Kepler
2. 2B Jorge Polanco
3. 3B Josh Donaldson
4. DH Nelson Cruz
5. 1B Miguel Sano
6. SS Andrelton Simmons
7. C Mitch Garver
8. OF Alex Kirilloff
9. OF Byron Buxton 

Minnesota Twins Projected Pitching Staff:

• SP1 Jose Berrios 
• SP2 Kenta Maeda 
• SP3 Michael Pineda
• SP4 Randy Dobnak
• SP5 J.A. Happ
• CL Taylor Rogers

Minnesota Twins Team Outlook:

The Minnesota Twins took some considerable losses over this past offseason. For starters, their offense lost outfielder Eddie Rosario, infielder Marwin Gonzalez, and catcher Alex Avilia. There were also losses in the bullpen, including relievers Sergio Romo and Trevor May. If that weren’t enough, the Twins’ starting rotation lost both Jake Odorizzi and Rich Hill.

As far as additions to the team go, Minnesota has added relievers Hansel Robles and Alex Colome, as well as starter J.A. Happ to their squad. Despite the loss of Rosario, the Twins hope that the re-signing of Nelson Cruz and the addition of Andrelton Simmons to the team will level out their offense. In 2021, it seems as if Minnesota will fall from atop the AL Central back down to the middle of the division.

Minnesota Twins Schedule:

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Max Kepler, the Minnesota Twins player, was raised in Germany for the greater portion of his young life. In Germany police officers wear green, unlike in the United States where they wear blue. When Keple posted a picture of himself wearing a ‘Blue Lives Matter’ mask, supporting the pro-police movement, he was not aware of how controversial it is. 

Kepler said in the response to the backlash he received for wearing the mask that he did not know what the blue stood for and was simply wearing it because of the coronavirus pandemic. In a post on his Instagram story, Kepler apologized. “I had no idea that mask had any underlying inferences — I simply thought it looked good. … I take complete responsibility for not knowing what I was wearing.”

Kepler’s post comes on the heels of Minneapolis police officers killing an unarmed black man, George Floyd, on Monday. 

Kepler’s team, the Twins, took to Twitter to share their sentiments regarding Floyd’s death, saying that they will continue to try and establish “one, all-inclusive Twins Territory, where everyone is protected, safe and welcome.”

Kepler has been playing for the Twins full-time since 2016.

Aside from the multiple players yawing and slurping down coffee after their nearly six-hour game Tuesday night, you also might see Max Kepler walking around the dugout wearing a Superman cap this morning. If so, don’t think anything of it, as the right-fielder certainly earned it last night after his clutch hitting, which led the Twins to a  4-3 victory after playing 17 frames against the Boston Red Sox.

During what in any game other than this one can be considered its later stages, the Red Sox and Twins both traded leads until reaching the eight inning. Once finding his team down a run, Kepler utilized his “super powers” for the first time, ripping an RBI single that would tie the game and eventually force extra innings. Mookie Betts responded five innings later, rocking a 380–foot home run. With a Red Sox bullpen performing admirably thus far, most fans departed the stadium believing their Twins to be out of gas. Kepler soon alerted the Minnesota fans and the Red Sox that his tank still held some high-octane power stirring around, as he lifted a 391–foot game–tying home run shortly after.

Meanwhile, the Minnesota bullpen crowd continued to shrink as each inning warranted a fresh arm hoping to keep a victory within reach. Once the game approached its 16th inning, pitcher Zach Littell sat unaccompanied, and even noted his loneliness amidst a day in which the bullpen phone racked up a heavy bill as he stated, “It kept shrinking and shrinking and then it’s just me. I was like, ‘It’s kind of boring out here. Nobody’s here to talk to, just hanging out.” Copying his predecessors, Littell shut the door on the Red Sox once finally hearing his name called, pitching two scoreless innings.

After Littell’s efforts, the bat found itself resting upon Kepler’s shoulder once more, this time with the bases loaded. As expected, Kepler came through once more, ripping a single down the right-field line, scoring Luis Arraez, and delivering a win for the hometown Twins. Kepler’s hit concluded the longest game ever played at Target Field, a game which the Twins longed to win deeply amid their recent losses at the Red Sox’s hands. These losses notably played out the way in which they did due to self–inflicted errors from the Twins, such as costly base running mistakes and embarrassing outfield collisions. An extra–innings victory applied a band–aid to the aggravating past losses, as catcher Mitch Garver illustrated the importance regarding an extra–innings win as he stated, “That would be so hard to go that far and use all the pitchers that you did, grind out at bats and then lose. It feels great to be on top. I’ve been on the losing side of those before.”

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On the spectrum’s other end, the Red Sox walked away defeated after passing the ball off to nine total pitchers throughout the contest. Chances to end the game with a score favoring the Sox slipped away often, as the team went just 1–13 with runners in scoring position. With that, the Red Sox saw their six game winning streak snapped, and they dropped to 40–35.

Both clubs will look to refill their energy tanks today, as the Twins and Kepler will take on the Red Sox once more for a series finale game. After yesterday’s grueling affair, both sides most likely will play Wednesday surely hoping the game’s run total obeys father time during this outing.