The "Unofficial" Minnesota Twins Fantasy Camp Report

Jan 11, 2025

Missed Opportunities

Game 7 was looking for a victory but with so many opportunities but couldn't cash them in at the right time and lost the game 3-2 to the Undefeated Redemption Tour team (what a name by the way.....perfect name for the week they had).

We scored 1st to take a 1-0 lead tacked on another for a 2-0 lead and then gave them 3 runs in the 5th and couldn't muster anything else -- came down to these plays:

1) Bases Loaded Twice with 0 outs -- we scored 2 runs but need more than that

2) RT's turned 3 double plays -- great job on defense! (*we were on the wrong end of a close call -- our runner beat out the throw on one of them)

3) 5th Inning - we had 2 costly errors that led to the 3 runs (it happens....it's camp)

4) I didn't get the bat on the ball on very hittable pitches -- so you need to be clutch when the time presents itself

When a few of those things happen -- you lose, it's baseball. Also as my wife pointed out - one team has to lose - so very true.

It was a good game overall -- just a few plays differently. Also note - they played good defense but they also almost gave away the game as well since we did get on base plenty -- we had 11 hits and they had at least 4 errors -- we beleive we left 14 guys on base - which is a crazy number (it was at least 10) so we almost broke the damn open.

Bulldog Wolfe was excellent and he even feels like he gave them too much to hit.....

It was a great run and a 9-1 record is still pretty amazing.

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~

Championship Saturday -- Let's Go!

We head to another saturday here at camp and another championship game that the team I was drafted on Sunday gets to play. In the past this blogger typed up a lot more words (mostly nonsense and dribble), made predictions and other fun things but the last few camps it has been more fun to not try to post this or that -- I am up early on a Saturday and I have a few thoughts about today's games -- so here you go.

9:45 Game - Ninjas vs LCL -- these are 2 really solid teams -- in fact trying to figure out how they ended up in the lower bracket -- but one win instead of one loss goes a long way. Both teams played solid yesterday to get to the Saturday game. The question for both squads is "Who is the Pitcher?" (and what's left in the tank) -- I think this will be a "bet the over" game because of the lack of an ace for both teams (meaning 100% ready to go guy). This game is the classic Walks and Errors situation - the team with the lower cumulative walks (given up) and errors in the field will take the Red Division Championship.

I am going to give an edge to the Ninjas as top to bottom I like the roster better while LCL has the better "top players" but this is a team game and the "last 6 batters" in the lineup mean alot for camp.

12:15 Game - Game 7 vs Redemption Tour - this is a really good matchup as well with both teams at combined records of 15-1. Baseball has 3 components -- Throwing the ball, Catching the ball, & Hitting the ball. I think Redemption does catching and hitting pretty well and Game 7 does throwing really well. The team that has the edge in 2 of the 3 components is most likely the predicted winner but in baseball one component can cancel out the other two -- in this case the superior pitching will need to be the catalyst to take our team to the Blue Division championship. This Redemption Tour team "top to bottom" is really good - I mentioned this many times in the past - most teams have holes (some gaping....some small), I don't see any holes in this RT team (no easy outs generally speaking) and I am thinking the same when they are in the field. Game 7 will need to be crisp out there behind our pitcher Mark Wolfe - this will be his first Saturday start and the name I am giving Wolfe today is "Bulldog". One of the most underappreciated campers over the years and one of the best pitchers in camp year after year - so I look for him to have a very good day on the bump and if Game 7 can play solid defense today I feel good about our chances. Feels like a 6-3 win for us as we get enough bats rallied together to get a few runs early. I hope our legs hold up as we have a few guys who are definately feeling the grind of a full week of baseball.

Baseball is a funny game so here is to hoping my predictions ring true.

Watch via livestream at 12:15pm Eastern Time - https://www.meridix.com/channel/?liveid=walshmedia#

Final Banquet tonight - I will recap the game and awards and hoping my favorite Rookie can take some hardware home as Kevin had a great week.

I started this week going 0 for 8 at the dish -- yes, as bad as it can get -- hope I can keep the bat hot, I went 9 for my last 10 to finish out at .500 BA and chipped in 6 walks for a nice OBA as well.

.500/.625/.833

It is a blessing to play on Saturdays, I don't take it for granted but this is my 10th saturday game.....and we don't need any more undefeated camp teams.

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~

Jan 10, 2025

Semi Final Friday

The campers were greeted with a wonderful weather morning - maybe a tad chilly for those southern folks but at game time it was full blue sky sunny and about 60 degrees and it would warm up as the games progress.

Game 7 was faced with the task of taking on the Irrevelants -- we thought this was going to be a pitchers' duel and a low scoring affair with Stoll and Popp facing off -- Stoll made it a 1-2-3 top of the first inning and Game 7 started hitting first pitch fastballs off Popp -- after I had my RBI Double -- we were up 3-0 and I came around to score to make it 4-0. They made 2 errors along the way so Popp didn't pitch nearly bad as the 4 spot -- but the pitchers came to pitch as the next 2 innings were scoreless -- we head into the bottom of the 4th - I had a leadoff walk and eventually came around to score to make it 5-0. Top of the 5th Irrevelants put together an inning with a couple timely hits and a couple miscues in the field and they get 2 runss - they did strand two runners as Stoll struck out a batter to make it 2 outs and then ended the inning with minimal damage at 5-2. We move to the bot of the 6th and Game 7 again puts together a few good AB's - i hit a sharp grounder to 3rd that found its way into the outfield for another RBI and the inning is good for 3 more runs. Top of 7 - Stoll works quickly getting out #1 - 2 guys find there way on base (errors) and Stoll closes the door down getting the last out via strikeout -- Game 7 heads to the championship game tomorrow at 12:15.

We will face the undefeated Redemption Tour team which won their matchup vs Roasted and Toasted 8-2. The top 2 seed head to the Blue Division Championship.

In the Red Division the top 2 seeds were victorious as well - Northstar Ninjas outlasted the pesky Villians and won 12-11 via walkoff (I think that was the score - I had two different sources) - regardless they won by 1. They will play LCL (Larkin Cuyler Laudner) as they took care of the Brunansky/Hrbek led 6905ers (the team name was the house number Bruno and Hrbie rented as young Twins) via a 6-2 score.

The Red Division Championship game will be played at 9:45am at Hammond Stadium on Saturday and the games will be livestreamed via Walsh Media -- https://www.meridix.com/channel/?liveid=walshmedia

9:45am - LCL vs Northstar Ninjas

12:15pm - Game 7 vs Redemption Tour

You can go back and watch the game as well - so check it out!

We should be an OK shape for our pitcher on the mound, but our defense and hitting could be in question as we have many players who are limping around - so hopefully the training staff can put them together by game time so we can play as good as we are capable of playing!

I am not going to mention about any streaks or saturday records either. Shhhhhh IYKYK.

Kangaroo Court this evening. Another fun week in the books and a bonus game on Saturday.

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~

Jan 9, 2025

Pool Play is over

The final 2 games of pool play (7 games in all) were finished up today at the Lee Health Sport Complex and Game 7 had another real good day (same with Redemption Tour) with 2 wins and secured the 2nd seed.

We won the game in the morning as Kevin threw a complete game shutout (won 9-0) and gave us the chance in the afternoon to simply "rest" (if you will) -- if we won the 2nd game we knew we had clinched the 2nd seed and had a small chance of moving to the 3rd seed if we lost and if runs given up gotten away from us.

I played real sloppy today in the field - which is strange, I usually play pretty good, but booted 3 grounders and missed judged a short fly ball (and looking like a circus show....and maybe messed up my hip a little bit) so all in all the afternoon game was ugly for me and a few others on the team.

We ended up winning 14-6 but just tired, not focused, game and I came in to pitch in the 6th and that was ugly too. At least I hit well today so it's funny how things go - you hit well but play bad in the field -- you don't hit but maybe pitch well - you need to have thick skin to play baseball, you simply fail alot in this game.

Here are the "final" UNOFFICIAL standings from what I can tell from the posted game scores:

"Blue Division"

1) Redemption Tour 7-0 (one of the Pro Staff coaches lost all the games last year -- so big time redemption!)

2) Game 7 6-1

3) Irrelevants 4-3 (wins runs against tiebreaker)

4) Roasted & Toasted 4-3

"Red Division"

5) NorthStar Ninjas 3-4 (wins 2nd tiebreaker - runs scored)

6) LCL 3-4

7) 6905ers 3-4 (loses runs against tiebreaker)

8) Villains 2-5 (wins runs against tiebreaker)

"Toilet Bowl"

9) We R Family 2-5

10) Twin Killing 1-6

Game 7 will match up against the Irrelevants on Friday AM for a 10am first pitch. We played them on Tuesday morning and beat them 8-0 behind the strong pitching performance of Mark Wolfe - we will have our 1a pitcher going (Josh Stoll) and we think the other team will go with Josh Popp (an acee in his own right) on the bump. Should be a good matchup and I look for this to be a low scoring affair with most likely the team that scores 3 runs first will win this game. If we play defense like we can I like our chances.

The camp is showing a lot of signs of bumps and bruises (strained obliques...) so hoping all these nagging injuries a few guys (and gals) can work through and make these Friday games real good.

Winners on Friday move on to play on Saturday!

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~

Thursday is here.....

We play 2 games today and the standings will find their way - not too much a log jam but plenty of teams can get into the top 4 seeds with a couple of wins today - we are in good shape as we can throw 2-3 guys pitching today and still be set up for Friday (and possible Saturday) matchups without having to give up today as many teams will rest the top 2 starters to ensure a stronger team for the semi final games on Friday.

Here are a few photos from camp: