I have been talking about doing something like this for awhile and it is not until Andy recently inspired me that I have taken the initiative to put this together. I am going to do 20 articles on the 20 best teams in FCM history in a single season. Without further ado, here we go....
Hitting my list at number 20 is our first Champion of FCM. The Minnesota Twins of 2010. The first champion in our league deserves a spot on our list but with the file producing more and more talent, they had to be towards the back of the top 20. With us only have 16 champions, that is going to put at least 4 teams without the world series hardware ahead of them.
The Twins at the time were handled by Mzylinski who left and came back to FCM and is now is the current GM of San Francisco. He played against the Cincinati Reds, who until recent have been dormant in the NL Central . The reds were led by I believe Hanramtrumps. He was a guy that did not have mogul and the league had to post screenshots for him so he could alter his lineup.
On the season the Twins went 91-71 and won the AL Central by 5 games over shuey's Indians team. They finished with the same exact record as the team that they faced for the championship that season. However, both of these teams were not considered the heavy favorites going into the playoffs. The heavy favorites were the Boston Red Sox that finished the season 101-61 that were led by an offense that included Ellsbury, Pedroia, Youkilis and Vmart. Pitching for them they were led by Bucholz, Lester, Lackey and Beckett. On the NL side of things, the heavy favorite were the LA Dodgers who also like Boston finished 101-61. That Dodgers team were led by Matt Kemp, Julio Bourbon and Andre Either. Pitching the ball they had 2 guys that they picked up in a trade with Bourbon, C.J. Wilson and Neftali Perez. In the rotation they also had Clayton Kershaw along with Broxton out of the pen. What is odd is that both the Red Sox and Dodgers did not get out of the first round. On the NL side of things you would have thought the 100-62 Colorado or 99-63 NYY advance to the CS but that is not the case either. You had the league throw a curve ball and the 3rd and 4th seeds on both sides face each other for the right to head to the series.
So what propelled this Minnesota team to make a run in the playoffs? They had a few players peak and play at the right time, At the end of the year, they had Ben Revere become an option for their team. Revere in 58 games at 21 years of age hit .308 with a .378 obp at the top of the lineup. He had 78 hits in those 58 games and 25 walks, he finished his first season with 21 stolen bases. The team also had Joe Mauer in his prime that was mashing the ball, He finished the season with a .339 average and a .423 obp. On top of those eye popping numbers he hit 25 homers and had 111 rbi. The lineup also boasted Justin Morneau who hit .304 with a .412 obp with 35 homers and 129 rbi. So the answer is simple, when you have 2 hitters like that in your lineup and you have someone getting on the base like Revere, it was a recipe to success.
In the rotation they had a depth of quality pitchers, they had Francisco Liriano, Glen Perkins, Kevin Slowey and Kyle Gibson. However, in the series, they called up their rookie sensation Carlos Gutierrez who at 23 only made 13 starts on the season to fill spots for injuries. He made 2 starts in the series and went 1-1 with a 3.14 era. He had to fill in for Perkins who went down with an injury in the ALCS after throwing a complete game shutout.
On paper, this team would most likely not be able to contend with the likes of today's champions or maybe even the runner up or some of our division winners. However, our first will always have a place in our heart. Next on our list is KC and the sunshine band.
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