The Minnesota Twins have been out of the MLB playoffs for a few weeks now, after losing to the Astro's in two games. But that doesn't mean the upcoming World Series won't feature some sort of Minnesota connection. After a little Google-work I was able to come up with 4 Minnesota connections to this year's World Series, and for one team Tampa Bay which has 3 connections, it might just be what helps them win their first World Series title.

The first most obvious Minnesota connection would be any player either born and or raised in Minnesota. There is only one player on both rosters that fits that profile. Tampa Bay's Nick Anderson was born in Crosby, attended St. Cloud State University, and played in the minors with the Minnesota Twins before being traded before the 2019 season to the Marlins for a third-basemen named Brian Schales. Personally, I got to know Nick when he played for the Tri-City Shark in the North Metro with some of my buddies and he is just a really fantastic person.

The other Minnesota connections to the World Series involves former draft picks/players for the Twins.

The only Minnesota connection to the Los Angeles Dodgers is former Twins Pitcher Brusdar Graterol who was traded to the Dodgers in a deal that brought the Twins' their most successful pitcher this past season, Kenta Maeda as the third leg of a deal that gave LA Mookie Betts from the Boston Red Sox.

Back to the Tampa Bay Rays, the other two Minnesota connections are players that were formerly drafted by the Twins. Interestingly enough they are both also pitchers. The first is a name that might sound familiar to some here in Twins' territory. Aaron Slegers. Slegers was drafted by the Twins "in the 5th round of the 2013 MLB June Amateur Draft from Indiana University Bloomington (Bloomington, IN)" according to Baseball-Reference.com. Slegers went 1-2 in two years with the club, appearing in 8 games and starting 5 of those games. Slegers went to the Pirates off of a waivers signing in January of 2019 and then had his rights purchased by the Rays in March of 2019, according to Baseball-Reference.com.

The last Tampa Bay-Minnesota connection is pitcher John Curtiss. Curtiss according to Baseball-Reference, was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 6th round of the 2014 MLB June Amateur Draft from University of Texas at Austin (Austin, TX). Curtiss appeared in 17 games for the Twins in 2017 and 2018 before being traded to the Angels in January of 2019. He then became a free-agent who played in Philidelphia before joining the Rays in February of this year.

So you now have some reasons to root on a team in this year's World Series and still stay true to Minnesota, in a roundabout kind of way. Right? Ya Sure You Betcha.

 

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