Twins become 1st team to make playoffs following 100-loss season

For the first time in seven years the Minnesota Twins are headed to October. The Twins officially clinched a postseason berth as the second American League wild-card team thanks to the Los Angeles Angels' 6-4 walk-off loss to the Chicago White Sox Wednesday night.

Minnesota, who will likely face the New York Yankees in the AL Wild Card Game on Oct. 3, is the first team in baseball history to make the playoffs after losing over 100 games the year before. They finished the 2016 season with a 59-103 record.

Earlier in the day, Minnesota lost 4-2 to the Cleveland Indians, but still only needed an Angels loss to solidify its spot in the postseason. That eventually happened in the 10th inning of Los Angeles' contest against Chicago, when White Sox outfielder Nicky Delmonico crushed a two-run home run to right field to walk it off and simultaneously eliminate the Angels from the wild-card race.

"Nicky Delmonico is my favorite player," Twins second baseman Brian Dozier said during the club's celebrations, according to MLB.com's Rhett Bollinger.

Prior to the Twins, the Atlanta Braves and Arizona Diamondbacks held the record for most losses in a season prior to making the playoffs the following year. In 1990, the Braves racked up 97 losses in a single campaign, while the Diamondbacks did the same twice in 1998 and 2010.

Coincidentally, the 1991 Braves would go on to make it all the way to the World Series, though they lost in seven games in the Fall Classic to the Twins.