The New York Yankees have dominated the Minnesota Twins for several seasons. Here’s a look back at the history between the two-clubs.
Friday, the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins will begin a best of five ALDS series at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.
This will be the sixth time since 2003 the teams have met in October with four meetings coming in the ALDS and one in the AL Wildcard. The Yankees have won each of the first five postseason series/match-ups with the Twins and have done so in dominating fashion.
While the 2019, battle looks to be a far more challenging one than those of the past, let’s take a look back at the Yankees playoff history with the Minnesota Twins.
2003 ALDS: Yankees 3, Twins 1
The first ever match-up between the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins came in 2003. New York dropped game one at home by a final score of 3-1 after failing to score a run until the ninth inning. However, the Bombers would respond outscoring the Twins 15-3 in the next three games to secure a 3-1 series victory.
2004 ALDS: Yankees 3, Twins 1
2004 was deja-vu for the Twins as they took game one of the series in New York after shutting out the Bombers by a score of 2-0. They then would fall apart; however, as the Yankees won game two after Hideki Matsui hit a walk-off sacrifice fly and then the Yankees won both games at the Metrodome to complete another series victory over the Twins.
2009 ALDS: Yankees 3, Twins 0
After losing in the ALDS in 2005, 2006 and 2007 to the Angels, Tigers and Indians, the Yankees got another crack at the Twins in 2009. The Yankees routed the Twins in game one, but in game two were down two entering the ninth inning. That’s when Alex Rodriguez provided one of the more memorable moments in recent Yankee history when he hit a game-tying two-run home run off of closer Joe Nathan to tie the game. The Yankees would walk off with the victory after Mark Teixeira roped a solo home run down the left-field line in the bottom of the 11th. New York would go onto to sweep the series with a win in game three in the final game ever played at the Metrodome.
2010 ALDS: Yankees 3, Twins 0
In 2010 the Yankees again would sweep through the Twins despite playing the first two games of the series in Minnesota. The home field would not do the Twins much good as the Yankees took the first two postseason games in Target Field history and then went onto sweep the series with a 6-1 win in game three at Yankee Stadium.
2017 AL Wild Game: Yankees 8, Twins 4
The most recent Yankees, Twins playoff match-up came in the 2017 Wild Card game. It looked like it’d finally be the Twins year to take down the Bombers when in the top of the first inning Brian Dozier and Eddie Rosario hit home runs off of Luis Severino to give Minnesota a quick 3-0 lead. The lead would not last long however as Didi Gregorius hit a three-run bomb in the bottom half of the inning to quickly tie the score. New York would take a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the second when Brett Gardner hit a solo shot. With the game re-tied at four in the bottom of the third, the Yankees took the lead for good as Greg Bird hit an RBI single. Later on Aaron Judge would deliver a two-run homer and Aaron Hicks drew a bases-loaded walk to put the Twins away and secure an 8-4 Yankees victory.