The All-Star break is behind them, and though 1991 Minnesota Twins Chuck Knoblauch, Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek and Chili Davis combined for 0-for-8 at the plate in the Midsummer Classic, they are helping their team put distance between themselves and the rest of the American League West in The Globe’s 1991 replay.
With no real major league baseball to follow due to the coronavirus pandemic, we are using OOTP-20, a comprehensive baseball simulation strategy game, to replay 1991. It was a year that, in real life, saw the Minnesotans win the West by eight games and go on to beat the Atlanta Braves in the World Series.
We wanted to see if the Twins could do it again.
Since last week the Minnesotans played six more games, winning them all. Even more impressively, they swept the Boston Red Sox in four games and won their first two in a series with the Milwaukee Brewers -- the two teams sitting atop the AL East.
The Twins beat Boston on scores of 6-3, 5-3, 8-4 and 5-4, then took a pair from Milwaukee 7-3 and 7-2.
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So as it stands now, Minnesota is 63-26 in the AL West standings with a .708 winning percentage. Texas is 50-33, 10 games back. The Chicago White Sox are 51-35. In the East, Boston is 51-345, Milwaukee 46-40 and Detroit 46-41.
The L.A. Dodgers lead the NL West at 53-33. Pittsburgh is atop the NL East at 60-25. The Atlanta Braves continue to struggle with a 35-50 record.
Six Minnesota Twins regulars are batting above .300. Hrbek is at .339 with 10 home runs. Knoblauch is batting .329. Puckett is batting .328 with 15 homers. Mike Pagliarulo is at .325 and Brian Harper .324. Davis leads the team with 22 homers and 72 RBIs and is batting .305.
Jack Morris leads the league in pitching victories, with 12, against five losses. Scott Erickson is 9-2. Rick Aguilera has 20 saves and a 1.74 ERA.
