Coming into the 2019 season, the Minnesota Twins had a modest goal. After a disappointing 2018, the Twins still were the second-best team on paper in the American League Central. With Chicago, Detroit and Kansas City all enduring rebuilds, the path to return to the postseason was to be better than the Cleveland Indians.
For the first couple months, that goal was aided by a red-hot start but cooled off in the middle of the year to see Cleveland take a 1/2 game lead. The Twins turned on the jets from there, however, as they sped past the Indians and claimed their first division title since 2010.