The New York Yankees swept the Minnesota Twins 3-0 in the 2019 ALDS. They won 10-4 on October 4 and 8-2 on October 5 at Yankee Stadium, then closed it out 5-1 at Target Field on October 7. Didi Gregorius hit a Game 2 grand slam, and the Twins' postseason losing streak reached 16 games.
The Twins had the home run record. The Yankees had the Twins' number. Guess which one mattered.
The Bomba Squad Comes to the Bronx
Minnesota wasn't some cute underdog in 2019. Rocco Baldelli's club won 101 games, took the AL Central for the first time since 2010, and hit 307 home runs, a new major league record. Eight different Twins hit at least 20. Somebody started calling them the Bomba Squad, the club printed it on T-shirts, and nobody could argue.
The 2019 Yankees hit 306. One fewer. They also won 103 games with half the roster on the injured list, which is how you end up with Aaron Boone and Baldelli splitting the AL Manager of the Year vote right down the middle -- 13 first-place votes each. (Baldelli won on second-place votes. Boone won the series. I know which one I'd take.)
Then there was the history. The Twins hadn't won a playoff game since Game 1 of the 2004 ALDS, in the Bronx. Every time they'd made October since, something terrible had happened to them, and it usually wore pinstripes.
Game 1: LeMahieu Does Everything
Things started badly enough to make you nervous. James Paxton, making his postseason debut, gave up a first-inning homer to Jorge Polanco and a third-inning shot to Nelson Cruz. Twins 2, Yankees 0.
Jose Berrios gave it right back. He needed 88 pitches to get through four innings, the Yankees scored three in the third, and Twins pitchers walked eight batters on the night. (You can't hand this lineup free baserunners. Somebody should've told them.)
Minnesota tied it 3-3 in the fifth, and Paxton left after 4 2/3 innings with eight strikeouts. Tommy Kahnle came in and stranded two runners. In the bottom half, Gleyber Torres fell behind Tyler Duffey 0-2, worked it full, and hit a two-run double that clipped a diving Miguel Sano's glove at third. 5-3.
Sano homered in the sixth to make it 5-4. That was as close as the Twins got.
DJ LeMahieu answered with a solo homer in the sixth, his first in the postseason, and Brett Gardner went into the second deck in right two batters later. In the seventh, LeMahieu cleared the bases with a three-run double off Kyle Gibson. He finished 3-for-5 with four RBI. Aaron Judge added two diving catches in right for good measure. Yankees 10, Twins 4.
Game 2: Didi Breaks the Slump, and the Twins
Didi Gregorius came into Game 2 in a 9-for-51 funk. He'd gone 0-for-3 in the opener. He was coming off Tommy John surgery and a contract year, and people were starting to say things.
The Twins started rookie Randy Dobnak, who'd been driving for Uber earlier that year. The bleachers chanted "Uber!" at him while he warmed up. (Rude. Also very funny.) LeMahieu doubled to lead off the first, and Edwin Encarnacion singled him home.
The third inning got ugly for Minnesota in a hurry. Giancarlo Stanton hit a sacrifice fly, Torres singled in another run, and Gary Sanchez took a pitch off the body to load the bases. Gregorius got to 1-2 against Duffey and launched a fastball into the second deck in right field.
Grand slam. 7-0. Gardner singled in one more before the inning ended.
It was the first Yankees postseason grand slam since Robinson Cano in 2011, and Didi didn't make a speech about it afterward.
Everybody goes through ups and downs, but the confidence level has always got to stay up.
Masahiro Tanaka did the rest: five innings, three hits, one run, one walk, seven strikeouts. Yankees 8, Twins 2. Every one of the eight runs came in the first three innings.
Game 3: Severino's Revenge
Luis Severino got the ball in Minneapolis. His only other postseason meeting with the Twins was the 2017 Wild Card Game, when he recorded one out, gave up three runs, and watched Joe Girardi come get him. Now he was making just his fourth start after missing five months with shoulder and lat trouble.
Torres put the Yankees up 1-0 with a homer off Jake Odorizzi in the second. In the bottom half, Severino loaded the bases with nobody out -- a Rosario double, a walk to Mitch Garver, a Luis Arraez single. Then he got Sano to pop up on a 98 mph fastball and struck out Marwin Gonzalez and Jake Cave on sliders.
That was the series, right there. Four scoreless innings.
"I think I got my revenge for what happened in '17," he told MLB.com afterward. (Fair. He'd earned that one.)
Gardner singled home Gio Urshela in the third. Torres doubled off the left-field wall leading off the seventh, and Gregorius singled him in for 3-0. Eddie Rosario took Zack Britton deep to lead off the eighth, the only run Minnesota scored all night, and Cameron Maybin homered off Sergio Romo in the ninth before Gregorius knocked in one more.
Aroldis Chapman got the last five outs and ended it by freezing Cruz with a 99 mph fastball for a called strike three. Torres finished 3-for-4 with a homer and two doubles. Yankees 5, Twins 1.
No excuse there. We were beaten by a team that played better than us over these three games.
Sixteen Straight
The Twins scored seven runs in three games. The best home run team in baseball history hit four homers, all solo shots.
The sweep was Minnesota's 16th straight postseason loss, and 13 of those had come against the Yankees. That tied the 1975-79 Chicago Blackhawks for the longest playoff losing streak in the four major North American leagues. It got to 18 before Royce Lewis homered twice to beat Toronto in the 2023 Wild Card Series on October 3, 2023.
I don't think there's a curse. I think the Twins kept drawing a team with a better bullpen and hitters who'd take a walk. That's less fun to say on a podcast, but it's true.
The Yankees moved on to the ALCS against Houston, which went a lot worse, for reasons we'd learn about a few weeks later. Didi left as a free agent that winter and signed with Philadelphia. If you want one swing to remember his last October in pinstripes by, it's the slam. (It's not close.)
| Series Result | Yankees 3, Twins 0 |
| Game 1 (Oct. 4, New York) | Yankees 10, Twins 4 |
| Game 2 (Oct. 5, New York) | Yankees 8, Twins 2 |
| Game 3 (Oct. 7, Minnesota) | Yankees 5, Twins 1 |
| Twins 2019 Record | 101-61 (MLB-record 307 HR) |
| Yankees 2019 Record | 103-59 (306 HR) |
| LeMahieu, Game 1 | 3-for-5, HR, 2B, 4 RBI |
| Tanaka, Game 2 | 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 7 K |
| Gregorius, Game 2 | Grand slam off Tyler Duffey |
| Severino, Game 3 | 4 IP, 0 R |
| Torres, Game 3 | 3-for-4, HR, 2 2B |
| Twins Runs in Series | 7 |
Game 1: LeMahieu's Night
Torres breaks a 3-3 tie with a two-run double, LeMahieu and Gardner homer in the sixth, and LeMahieu's three-run double in the seventh puts it away. Yankees 10, Twins 4.
Game 2: Didi's Grand Slam
Gregorius hits a grand slam off Tyler Duffey in a seven-run third, and Tanaka strikes out seven over five innings. Yankees 8, Twins 2.
Game 3: Severino Escapes
Severino strands the bases loaded in the second and throws four scoreless innings, Torres homers and doubles twice, and Chapman finishes a five-out save. Yankees 5, Twins 1.
On to Houston
The Yankees open the ALCS in Houston with a 7-0 win behind Tanaka. The Astros take the series in six.
The Streak Ends
Royce Lewis homers twice and the Twins beat Toronto 3-1, snapping their record 18-game postseason losing streak.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who did the Yankees play in the 2019 ALDS?
The Minnesota Twins. The Yankees swept them 3-0, winning 10-4 and 8-2 at Yankee Stadium on October 4 and 5, 2019, and 5-1 at Target Field on October 7.
Who hit the grand slam in the 2019 ALDS?
Didi Gregorius. He hit it off Twins reliever Tyler Duffey in the third inning of Game 2, putting the Yankees up 7-0 in an 8-2 win. It was the first Yankees postseason grand slam since Robinson Cano's in 2011.
Did Didi Gregorius hit two home runs in Game 1 of the 2019 ALDS?
No. Gregorius went 0-for-3 in Game 1, which DJ LeMahieu (a homer and four RBI) and Gleyber Torres (a go-ahead two-run double) won for the Yankees. Didi's big swing was the Game 2 grand slam. His two-homer playoff game came against Corey Kluber in Game 5 of the 2017 ALDS.
How long was the Twins' postseason losing streak?
The 2019 sweep made it 16 straight postseason losses, 13 of them to the Yankees, which tied the 1975-79 Chicago Blackhawks for the longest such streak in the four major North American leagues. It reached 18 before the Twins beat Toronto on October 3, 2023.