How the Twins beat their 19-year postseason losing streak

CATHY WURZER: You may remember a conversation we had on the program yesterday with Twins fan Chris Hanel. Chris made a YouTube documentary about the team's postseason losing streak, which held a record of 18 games. He told us all things must end.

CHRIS HANEL: The Twins are really excited to embrace this and say, we're going to take the fan base and put them on our back and run through this brick wall. And we're going to do it together.

CATHY WURZER: Now, I have to say I was kind of skeptical. But Chris was right. The Twins beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3 to 1 at Target Field yesterday, pulling off their first postseason win since 2004. Joining us to talk about that moment and what to expect in Game 2 this afternoon is Eric Nelson. He's the co-host of the 10,000 Takes sports show. He's the Vikings reporter for CBS Sports' Eye on the NFL. He's also a regular sports guy here on the program. Hey, Eric.

ERIC NELSON: Cathy, Happy Wild Card Wednesday.

[LAUGHTER]

CATHY WURZER: Happy Wild Card Wednesday to you, too, my friend. Well, I have to say. I didn't think they could pull it off, so I'm embarrassed that I was wrong, obviously. What was the energy like during that game yesterday?

ERIC NELSON: It was incredible. I mean, it was an energetic vibe that you often find in playoff baseball, but not in every city. I mean, yesterday in Saint Petersburg, Florida, they only had 19,000 plus for the Rays and the Rangers, one of the lowest crowds in Major League Baseball postseason history.

They had 38,450 that was jam packed into Target Field, and they brought the energy all game. And I think the fans were a big reason why the Twins won. Yes, there was skepticism. No doubt about it. Everybody's skittish. Oh, are we going to lose another playoff game? Make it 19? Bow out of the playoffs early again? I mean, they haven't won a postseason series since 2002.

They hadn't won a playoff game since 2004. But when Royce Lewis-- and I call him Rolls Royce because that's what he's like. He's the big gun now, the rookie, and maybe he's the new Mr. October. First two at bats in the playoffs, he hits a home run. And the first one came in the bottom of the first inning, so the Twins got off to the early lead, and the crowd fed off of that.

CATHY WURZER: Which was terrific. But they didn't score after that third inning. How did they hold back the Blue Jays from pulling ahead?

ERIC NELSON: Well, Pablo Lopez was very good. He went 5 and 2/3 innings, gave up five hits, just one run. He's the guy that got in the off season. They dealt Luis Arrez, who won the batting title last year for Minnesota, also this year for Miami. But they got Pablo back to be their ace, and he lived up to it yesterday, especially in that playoff spotlight.

And then the bullpen was outstanding-- Louie Varland, Caleb Thielbar, Griffin Jax, and Jhoan Duran, the closer. And for the fans who go to Twins games, when they bring Duran in, Cathy, it is like WWE. I mean, the lights go on, and then they turn the lights off, and everybody holds their phone up to illuminate his entrance. They have a wild music video. There's spiders crawling on the scoreboard.

So they get everybody juiced up, and he got the save. And let me tell you. When that final out, that 27th out was recorded, it was like the entire state of Minnesota exhaled. You could feel it in the ballpark, but I think it happened in Warroad, Winona. Everywhere that there are Twins fans, people are just relieved today.

CATHY WURZER: I think you're right. There was even some folk saying we should have a parade now and just kind of celebrate. Game 2, I know you're going to be there. Game 2 starts in, what? Less than four hours? What do you think we can expect today?

ERIC NELSON: Well, it's going to be interesting. Obviously, the Twins can close it out. This is a best of three series. So if Minnesota wins today, they move on to the American League divisional series and the Twins would play Houston Saturday night in Texas. But if the Blue Jays win, then it's a winner take all Game 3 tomorrow afternoon at Target Field.

Your old friend Jose Berrios will be pitching for Toronto today against Sonny Gray for the Twins. Gray was an all-star for Minnesota. Berrios did some good things here while he pitched for the Twins And I was talking to one of the Blue Jays broadcasters after the game yesterday, Chris Leroux. And he says Jose's been dealing lately, and he's going to be amped up to face the Minnesota Twins.

And one other side note. There was not a lot of ticket buzz going into this series. I know that on Monday, you could get tickets for Game 1 or 2 for about $10 or $11 after fees on the secondary market. As soon as the Twins won yesterday, prices for today's game quadrupled on places like StubHub and Vivid. It was that quick.

CATHY WURZER: I am not surprised. OK. So should we get our hopes up?

ERIC NELSON: I don't want to be Donnie Downer. Yesterday was a lot of fun, but the series is not over. Get your hopes up when they get a win today or tomorrow. Because the goal here-- yeah, you want to end the losing streak. But the big goal is you want to move on and keep playing in the postseason. So Toronto's not going to go away. They're going to make things tough on the Twins today. Should be very interesting in downtown Minneapolis.

CATHY WURZER: And you'll be there. All right. Eric Nelson, thank you.

ERIC NELSON: Thanks, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: That's Eric. 10,000 Takes sports talk show co-host, Vikings reporter for CBS Sports. He will be back tomorrow on this program along with Wally Langfellow to talk through all the latest Minnesota sports news.