In baseball the key to winning is said to be about pitching and defense.
Under manager Ron Gardenhire the Minnesota Twins have built a reputation as a solid baseball club that pitches to contact, does not walk batters and plays fundamentally sound defense.
This is a formula that the Twins have used to win six of the last nine AL Central Division titles.
As the Twins head into 2011 there are plenty of questions that remain to be answered as they prepare to defend their AL Central title, and hopefully, achieve the next plateau by winning in the division round of the playoffs.
The biggest question might be who will emerge as the ace of the rotation?
General Manager Bill Smith is working to re-sign Carl Pavano, the team’s workhorse of 2010.
Last season Pavano led the Twins with 17 wins, seven complete games and two shutouts.
His 221 innings pitched was 29.1 more than the next closest Twins starter, and his 6.9 innings per start topped the rotation.
I looked back at the history of Twins starters since they moved to Minnesota in 1961.
Here are the top 20 starting pitchers in franchise history.
To be included in the ranking each pitcher had to start in at least four consecutive seasons for the Twins.
I don’t think anyone will disagree with the top half of the ranking, but there could be some surprises between No. 11 and No. 20.