Bring back '87: Just get in.

I noted before the deadline that if you don't think the Twins can win with this bullpen, they should take a look at the 1987 Twins. Famously, the 87 Twins were World Champions, and not so famously, had a terrible bullpen.

I got two responses from random Threads users (the only people on Threads are completely random) that tried to gently push back. One said that this Twins team has no Puckett or Hrbek - simply not as good an offensive team. Fair enough. But on the other hand, even though the 87 Twins scored more runs a game than this Twins team does, they were also the 9th highest scoring team in the American League that year. The Twins this year are the highest scoring team in the AL.

Another user said "who will be this team's Jeff Reardon? referring to the closer for that World Series team. Well, if we are talking about ERA, then Yoendrys Gomez is obviously out, because his ERA is half of Reardon's. In fact, Kody Funderburk and Andrew Morris also have better ERAs than Reardon. If you want to talk about WAR, Morris and Gomez are higher already that Reardon for the whole season. Funderburk is a perfect match. So I guess Kody Funderburk is this team's Jeff Reardon? 

That was before the deadline, and we live in a different era. The Twins of 1987 may have looked to bolster their bullpen if that was how things were done back then. The 2026 Twins had a better pen than the 87 version, and then at the deadline, the Twins made the bullpen better. I'm certainly not saying the Twins this year are better than the '87 Twins, but the bullpen sure is.

Those Twins had Frank Viola and Bert Blyleven. Frank Viola in particular was twice as good as the next best player for the Twins, and one of the best in baseball that year. This year, the Twins are the best offense in the league. so they have a clear strength as well (and extrapolated over 162 games, the overall WAR for the offense is very similar to those 87 Twins). The teams aren't THAT different.

The 1987 Twins were a surprise that took advantage of a weak division, and got hot at the right time. Just having the chance to play in the postseason is valuable. Nobody will turn the 87 rings back in because the regular season was mediocre, or they held on to Blyleven a bit too long. 

The first game after the deadline, Joe Ryan was sent home with a potential injury, and I saw a Twins fan lament that the Twins didn't sell. I was initially frustrated by the optics of acquiring Jeff Hoffman (formerly released from Spring Training by the Twins, acquired after he lost his spot as the closer to the guy the Twins just traded to the same team at the last deadline), but I'm never going to be upset about a team seeing an opportunity and going for it.

Postseason chances are precious, and despite how much we love them, prospects are not. A playoff spot means you are guaranteed to play in the playoffs (duh) and you can get there with your known assets. Prospects are not guarantees. Be good enough to get to the playoffs, just like the 87 Twins.