Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 4.5.24
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Beginning spring break in Des Moines tonight - Iowa Wild and then dance competition. But I’ll watch Caitlin Clark in her hometown at my favorite Des Moines watering hole (Miller Hi Life Lounge, if you know you know).
Hard not to believe we’re looking at a Purdue/UConn battle royale Monday.
Make Glove not W.A.R., my Twins column at Pulltab Sports, is back for another season. Read the five things we learned after five games.
Gopher women’s hoops team in the WNIT Final Saturday against St. Louis.
Dawson Garcia staying with the Gopher men despite lucrative offers elsewhere.
Loons host Real Salt Lake Saturday.
Wild on Brink After Loss to Avs
The math wasn’t on their side one day for the last five months, but the Wild is nearing the end of the road after last night’s 5-2 loss at home to Colorado. There’s nothing like a game against the Avs to show any team how much they need to improve to be a legit contender.
Minnesota got goals from Vinny Litierri and Declan Chisholm. The Wild’s fourth line has been its best as of late. Not ideal.
The Wild, 10 points back with seven games left, hosts the hated Jets on Saturday.
Wolves Rip Raptors by 48, Take Over First in West
The Toronto Raptors are awful, but you still gotta play the game. And the Wolves played big time, ripping the Raptors 133-85 at Target Center on Wednesday. Minnesota outscored Toronto by 44 points over the final three quarters. That, combined with Denver’s loss last night, puts the Wolves in first overall in the West by a half game, with a game in hand.
Anthony Edwards finally broke out of his 3-point slump (5-for-12) on his way to 26 points, Naz Reid added 23 and Luka Garza (!) had 16 points in only nine minutes.
Six games left for the Wolves, who are at Phoenix tonight. The Suns are in a dogfight to stay out of the play-in tournament.
Twins Lose Home Opener
The Twins have to feel like the college football team that’s invited to every other teams’ homecoming. Minnesota lost its home opener 4-2 to Cleveland yesterday, the third home opener they’ve played in six games.
Cleveland is off to a red-hot 6-2 start, while Minnesota dropped to 3-3.
Pablo Lopez was so good in his first start but struggled in the home opener, allowing all four runs in 5 ⅔ innings. The Twins struggle to score runs, and can’t have Max Kepler and his .059 batting average hitting cleanup. Byron Buxton struck out with the bases loaded in the eighth.
Joe Ryan toes the rubber tonight.
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