Minnesota Update, 8.9.2023
Catching up on what we've missed over the past week.
Greetings, salutations, hello again. It has been a minute since our last update; I got sick and missed a day or two, then I was busy one day writing a whole bunch of Women’s World Cup stuff for the Star Tribune (here, and here, and a podcast here). But now all that’s over, and so we might as well sum up the last few days, rather than just last night, because a lot has happened with the Loons and the Twins and the Lynx and the Saints.
We start with Minnesota United FC, which is into the quarterfinals of the Leagues Cup, having won a pair of penalty shootouts in the first two knockout rounds. Friday, the Loons beat Columbus on penalties after drawing 3-3 thanks to a late Hassani Dotson equalizer. Tuesday, they survived again, beating Toluca on penalties after a 2-2 draw at Allianz Field.
I don’t have thoughts on all of this in paragraph form, only in bullet points:
It’s worth remembering that Columbus has been really good at home this year, with eight wins out of twelve games in the league. They haven’t matched it on the road - two wins in eleven - but to go to Columbus and get any kind of result is impressive anyway.
Toluca might not have the big name of some other Mexican teams, but they’re a really good, storied team. They’re sort of the Pittsburgh Steelers of Liga MX. To beat them is a big deal, even on penalties, even at home. I’d say that last night’s win was maybe a top-five win all time for the Loons, even if it was on penalties.
The fifteen minutes postgame were utterly wild. Like so many people, I switched on the penalty shootout between Club América and Nashville, knowing that if América prevailed, MNUFC would host the quarterfinals against the Mexican giants, while if Nashville won, Minnesota would go on the road to Nashville for the quarterfinal. Well, América won, fans ran on the pitch, I turned it off, and it wasn’t until I had sent about ten messages about how one of North America’s grandes was coming to Allianz Field did someone tell me that VAR - ten minutes later! - had restarted the shootout due to a keeper violation. Nashville won the second try, ruining the big night at Allianz Field that we’d all planned (including the MNUFC accounting department).
Anyway, assuming Minnesota can beat Nashville on Friday in what seems like an inevitable third consecutive penalty shootout, they could potentially host Monterrey in the semifinals, if Monterrey gets past LAFC.
I really picked the wrong day to write about the Twins. They’d won five games in a row, coming into Tuesday’s game in Detroit, and taken a five-and-a-half game lead in the AL Central. Naturally, because this is Minnesota, they got shut out by the Tigers, who had the temerity to start Eduardo Rodriguez, who is an above-average left-handed pitcher and therefore pretty much an automatic loss for the Twins.
We are currently at the top of the hill of one of the many sine waves that have made up the Twins’ season this year. They’ve got a lot of winnable games coming up, with the Tigers and the Pirates and so forth, so check back in a week when they’ll probably be back at .500 and somehow only a single game up in the AL Central.
Over in the WNBA, the standings have officially separated into three disparate groups. There are the really good teams, which are Las Vegas and New York and Connecticut; one of those three teams will win the title this year, and they will be the top three seeds in the playoffs. There are three really bad teams, in Phoenix and Seattle and Indiana; one of those teams will win the draft lottery this year, and get to pick Caitlin Clark.
And then there are six teams in the middle of the pack. The Lynx are one, and at 14-15 are still just a game and a half back of Atlanta for the fourth seed in the playoffs, with ten games to go. Minnesota beat Chicago last night, 88-79, and now is faced with three games against three teams on the bottom - at Indiana, at Seattle, then home against Seattle.
Win them all, and Minnesota could well be in the driver’s seat for a home playoff series. Lose them, and they could be getting sucked down towards the bottom, where they could even still manage to miss the playoffs.
Napheesa Collier is back from injury, and had 29 against Chicago. Jessica Shepherd, who missed a big chunk of the middle of the year, chipped in with 17 as well. Rachel Banham is back after missing games with a broken thumb. Dorka Juhasz is not yet back after a hamstring injury, but she’s practicing again.
This team is starting to get healthy for this stretch drive - how far can they actually go?
The Saints are 5-5 in their last 10, but their two biggest stories involve young infielders. Royce Lewis is back on the field for a rehab assignment; he homered Tuesday, in his first action since going on the IL in early July. Meanwhile, top prospect Brooks Lee has also been promoted to St. Paul, his first taste of Triple-A after hitting .841 with 11 homers at Double-A Wichita this year. So far it hasn’t been great - two singles in 18 plate appearances, for a symmetrical slash line of .111 / .111 / .111 - but it’s obviously very early for him.
TODAY’S SLATE
TWINS at Detroit, 5:40pm
SAINTS vs Louisville, 1:05pm
ON DECK
LYNX at Indiana, Thursday
LOONS at Nashville, Friday, Leagues Cup
As someone on the WW board, hosting America was literally a nightmare I have had several times over the course of the last week and a half, glad we avoided it, even if we have to go kick the shit out of Nashville at their place.