Minnesota's October 2nd game against Cleveland was suspended following the 11th inning in order for the Metrodome grounds crew to prepare the field for the University of Minnesota's football game against Pennsylvania State. The Twins began the game at 11:10 a.m. in order to accommodate the football game scheduled for that evening, but Minnesota tied the game in the seventh and the score remained unchanged as the minutes ticked away. Both clubs were informed prior to the game that no inning would begin after 2:30 p.m., giving the teams around a half hour more than the average length of a nine-inning game to complete their contest. While the Twins have safely navigated similar situations in the past, planners failed to incorporate a sufficient cushion in the schedule. Minnesota likely should have started sooner and the football game should have been delayed if necessary. To my knowledge the college football game was only telecast on DIRECTV, so pushing back the start of competition would not have interrupted a major broadcast. As it was, the lack of foresight exercised seemed choreographed to demonstrate the Twins' need for a baseball-only stadium.

The game resumed at 1:10 p.m. the following day with the game regularly scheduled for the 3rd beginning 20 minutes after the conclusion of the suspended game. Minnesota chose to send Kyle Lohse, who was scheduled to start the game on the 3rd, to finish the suspended game. Lohse pitched a scoreless inning and the Twins scored in the bottom of the 12th to win the contest, so Lohse returned to the mound to make his scheduled start when the regularly scheduled game began, pitching four innings before turning the game over to the bullpen. The Indians outplayed Minnesota and denied the Twins home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs. I dislike focusing on end of season games as playoff eliminators or in this case as costing the Twins home field advantage, since games earlier in the year contribute just as much to a club's overall record. Cleveland also might have beaten Minnesota yesterday even under normal circumstances. The misfortune in this instance is that the Twins' management did not give them an opportunity to play the game under normal circumstances.