Minnesota Update, 7.7.2023
The Saints have been cursed, I'm worried about the Aurora, and Napheesa Collier is trying to make the WNBA offseason work.
Three days ago, I wrote that I thought that we might all be happier if we just started watching the St. Paul Saints instead of watching the Minnesota Twins.
I can’t help but feel like this was part of some sort of Freaky Friday ancient curse thing, since basically at that moment, the Twins and the Saints switched team personalities entirely.
Thursday, the Saints lost their third game in a row, 5-3 to Iowa. They’ve scored seven runs in those three games. They’ve managed a total of nine hits. They suddenly can’t score unless someone hits the ball over the fence; Thursday, their only runs were courtesy of two walks, followed by a Kyle Garlick home run.
They struck out eleven times. They were 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
This is very familiar! The curse is here!
The Saints need to have a players-only meeting ASAP.
Garlick was the standout; he also walked twice. He’s been hitting well since the Twins designated him for assignment in mid-June, batting .400 with power at Triple-A. He’s pretty much the quintessential quadruple-A guy, approaching league average as a hitter in the majors and crushing the ball in the minors. It’s hard not to root for those guys.
I admit, I am slightly worried about the Minnesota Aurora, and not in the usual joking faux-disappointed way. The Aurora won their first playoff game yesterday, beating Chicago City 1-0 thanks to a first-half penalty from Arianna Del Moral, and when it comes to playoff time, I’m fully aware that the only thing people remember is whether you won, not the final score.
That said… Aurora already beat Chicago City twice this year, 3-1 and 7-0. Winning 1-0 has me a little concerned! Not because Minnesota played poorly or anything - they held Chicago City without a shot on goal in the second half - but because I’m a Minnesota sports fan, and I’m quite used to teams that are pretty good in the regular season but can’t win in the playoffs.
Anyway, it’s a short turnaround for the Aurora, as they play again tomorrow, against Indy Eleven in the conference finals. Here’s hoping they prove my unrelated worries unfounded.
Finally, congrats to Napheesa Collier of the Lynx, who is one of the two founders (with Breanna Stewart) of a new wintertime women’s basketball league, called Unrivaled.
The WNBA has already been a little strange, in the sense that lots of players went to play overseas during the winter, to try to make some actual money; it’d be like if baseball’s winter leagues paid their players tens of millions of dollars.
It’s a 3-on-3 league, that’s also a 1-on-1 league, and I admit that I’m already confused about what the heck that means. It’s also taking place entirely on a soundstage in Miami, which is giving me horrible COVID-bubble déjà vu.
But hey, there are far worse things on TV these days, including plenty of other exhibition-style leagues. It’d be better for the players if they could go to Miami for three months instead of having to go to random corners of the world, and probably better for the WNBA too. I hope it works!
TONIGHT’S SLATE
TWINS vs Baltimore, 7:10pm
LYNX vs Phoenix, 7pm
SAINTS at Iowa, 7:08pm
CROWS at Thunder Bay, 7pm
ON DECK
LOONS vs Austin, Saturday
AURORA vs Indy Eleven (at Flint, MI), Saturday
DOUBLOONS vs Real Monarchs, Sunday