10 moments that built the Twins' postseason losing streak

MINNEAPOLIS -- Twins fans, avert your eyes.

Unless you’re particularly interested in a highlight reel of some of the franchise’s most painful moments of the last two decades, this story isn’t for you.

With that said, here’s how this season’s Twins team has outwardly differed so far from those that came before in 2019 and ‘20: Not only are they not shying away from the specter of the organization’s notorious 18-game playoff losing streak, but they’re actually embracing and acknowledging this narrative -- and their coming role in it.

“We’re going to get that first win since 2004, I promise you that,” Kyle Farmer said minutes after the Twins clinched the division.

• Postseason tickets on sale now

These 2023 Twins will either be the ones to deliver absolution, or they could be the ones to run this streak to 20 losses over at least 20 years. Here’s a look at what these fans have seen as part of this inglorious distinction.

1. A-Rod crushes Nathan
2004 American League Division Series (vs. NYY), Game 2

This is where it all began. Nineteen years ago, Johan Santana was the last pitcher to deliver a playoff win for the Twins with seven scoreless innings at Yankee Stadium in Game 1 of the ALDS.

The next day, the Twins forced extra innings with a two-run, eighth-inning rally behind RBI knocks from Justin Morneau and Corey Koskie, but they had to ask for a bit too much from Joe Nathan.

He was on his third inning of relief when the Twins stuck with him after they claimed a one-run lead in the 12th -- and that proved too far, as he lost his control with two walks before he allowed a game-tying double to Alex Rodriguez and the walk-off sac fly by Hideki Matsui, sealing a 7-6 loss in 12 innings.

2. Rincon implodes
2004 American League Division Series (vs. NYY), Game 4

The Twins were looking good to send the series back to a decisive Game 5 at Yankee Stadium, with an early 5-1 lead at home and Santana on the mound -- but instead, the series ended in Minneapolis. That lead quickly evaporated in the eighth, when the Yankees opened with a single, wild pitch, walk and RBI single before Ruben Sierra went deep to tie the game.

Gary Sheffield scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch in the 11th -- and that was that.

3. Kotsay’s inside-the-parker
2006 American League Division Series (vs. OAK), Game 2

Any chance the Twins had to even this series against Oakland vanished with Torii Hunter’s errant dive in center field on this sinking line drive. A 2-2 tie turned into a 4-2 deficit as the all-world center fielder took too big of a gamble -- and while the Twins eventually got the tying run to the plate in the ninth, it was too little, too late.

“There's only one person in this league that can make that catch, and it's Torii,” said Michael Cuddyer, who was in right field that day, to media after the game. “Although it's as close as you come, he's not Superman.”

4. Game 163
2009 American League Central Tiebreaker (vs. DET)

The doldrums of the losing streak can’t be discussed without also highlighting the exhilaration of what might as well have been a playoff victory in one of the most dramatic games in team history -- a 12-inning, walk-off thriller against the Tigers that not only punched a postseason ticket, but also bought Twins fans a few extra days before saying goodbye to the Metrodome.

This was an all-timer of a game as the rivals went blow for blow in the late innings. Orlando Cabrera’s go-ahead, two-run blast in the seventh got an immediate answer in Magglio Ordoñez’s solo shot in the eighth. Brandon Inge doubled home a run in the top of the 10th; Matt Tolbert singled in the equalizer in the bottom before the walk-off run was cut down at home plate.

After 12 long innings, Alexi Casilla chopped the winner through the right side as Carlos Gómez skidded across home plate. Nobody in a sellout Metrodome crowd wanted to leave their seats as the players did victory high-five laps around the stands -- and this was the closest Twins fans have come to tasting October success since it all began.

“We just felt like we had nothing to lose, man,” said Denard Span to media after the game. “We weren't supposed to win this division. Detroit had the lead the whole second half of the season. This is a great story for the Metrodome. Great story for the city."

5. Fair or foul?
2009 American League Division Series (vs. NYY), Game 2

This might well be the moment that defines the streak in the eyes of many around Minnesota. It’s the reason most Twins fans have committed the name of umpire Phil Cuzzi to memory, at least.

Game 1 in the Bronx wasn’t close. Game 2 was. The Twins got to Phil Hughes and Mariano Rivera in the eighth to take a 3-1 lead -- but A-Rod, once again, came through with a game-tying homer off Nathan in the ninth, sending the game to extras.

Joe Mauer led off the 11th with a slicing line drive to the left-field corner at Yankee Stadium that appeared to both hit the glove of Melky Cabrera and clearly bounce fair, but it was ruled foul instead of what would have been a double, back before the age of replay reviews. Mauer still singled, but he couldn’t score on two singles -- and Mark Teixeira walked it off minutes later.

“There is no excuse,” Cuzzi said at the time to Steve Politi of NJ Advanced Media. “I missed the play. It’s a terrible feeling. As badly as many people on that field may have felt, I don’t think any of them had a worse night’s sleep than I did.”

6. Goodbye to the Dome
2009 American League Division Series (vs. NYY), Game 3

Two days later, Carl Pavano and the Twins’ bullpen again gave way late to turn a 1-0 lead into a 4-1 loss within the final three innings -- and in the final game of baseball at the Metrodome, Twins fans had to say goodbye in a dud of a clincher for the Yankees, extending their playoff losing streak against New York to six and their overall streak to nine.

7. Gardy’s frustration boils over
2010 American League Division Series (vs. NYY), Game 2

The Twins got the clutch hit they needed on Orlando Hudson’s game-tying homer to even things into the seventh. But after Carl Pavano issued a leadoff walk to Jorge Posada, he seemingly delivered a perfect strike-three pitch to Lance Berkman -- but it wasn’t called.

Berkman then laced a go-ahead double, and while managers are often given a longer leash in the playoffs to express their emotions, even that wasn’t enough for the fiery Ron Gardenhire, who was tossed from the game and had to watch from his office as the Twins’ bullpen continued to give way -- an apt representation of the Twins’ constant frustration against the Yankees.

Most significantly, this series loss represented the last of the era of Metrodome fan favorites -- Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Cuddyer, Hunter, Santana, Nathan and others who defined a generation of Twins baseball but couldn’t get an October win together to show for it.

8. Didi’s dagger
2017 American League Wild Card Game (vs. NYY)

With the postseason losing streak to specifically the Yankees at nine games, the Twins took the Bronx by storm with homers by Brian Dozier and Eddie Rosario in the first inning, chasing Yankees starter Luis Severino after he recorded only one out -- perhaps a sign that this time would be different?

Enter Didi Gregorius, who inexplicably emerged as one of the primary antagonists in the Twins’ tales of woe against the Bronx Bombers.

In the bottom of the first, the Yankee shortstop immediately crushed a game-tying, three-run homer off Ervin Santana, negating all of that momentum. The Yankees never trailed again after that, suffocating any hopes for a Twins comeback in an 8-4 victory.

9. Didi’s dagger (redux)
2019 American League Wild Card Series (vs. NYY), Game 2

This was the Randy Dobnak game -- the contest in which the then-rookie and onetime Uber driver, after having made a meteoric rise from A-ball all the way to the Majors in one season, had to start Game 2 at Yankee Stadium. It didn’t go well -- and of course, Gregorius had a big part in that.

Even considering this was the “Bomba Squad” team with its record-breaking homers, the Twins’ bullpen was clearly outmatched -- and after Dobnak loaded the bases in the third, Gregorius buried the Twins with a grand slam off Tyler Duffey for another Yankee Stadium rout.

10. Polanco’s errant throw
2020 American League Wild Card Series (vs. HOU), Game 1

For once, the Twins actually had the pitching in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, with a rotation headed by Cy Young runner-up Kenta Maeda, who did his part with five shutout innings opposite Zack Greinke of the Astros.

That took a 1-1 game into the ninth, where veteran Sergio Romo put men on first and second, recorded two outs and induced a very playable grounder to shortstop, where Jorge Polanco just needed to make a short flip to second to give the Twins a chance to walk off a tied game in the bottom of the ninth.

Instead, his throw inexplicably sailed wide and pulled Luis Arraez off the bag. Everyone was safe. A subsequent bases-loaded walk and two-run single sealed the Twins’ fate in Game 1 -- and one day later, the streak ran up to 18 losses.