We can easily understand if people are struggling with hope these days. Turning to any website — sometimes ours as well — can be a depressing undertaking.

It’s why we believe the Minnesota Twins are so important this season, because they are a much welcomed distraction, that nobody saw coming.

Absolutely no one, aside from hardcore fans maybe, looked at first-year manager Roco Baldelli and thought, “this team is going to do something special.”

We naturally understand that it’s easy to look at this editorial and think we are being glib, but in all honesty we are not. Like our editorial earlier this month when things were still undecided, this team has earned fan’s support.

More often than not, things like sports, music, movies, and the outdoors are welcome distractions from a world that these days has a tendency of looking ugly.

But a ball game can let us sit down for a couple hours and forget about the headlines. This year the Twins have been better than most in leading us away from the depressing news of the world.

As the Twins took this season by storm, fans — including some at the Herald — kept waiting for the bottom to fall out, but as the season continued we started to become more invested.

There were times things looked dire and when Cleveland came storming in, fans maybe started to groan, “here we go again.” But the bombas kept flying and the wins kept coming.

The Twins clinched their first division title since 2010 this week, with some help from the Chicago White Sox who drummed the Indians out of contention in powerful fashion that same night. Tip of the hat, Chicago.

However much fun the Twins have been, though, it’s time to be realistic. The Twins are most likely facing the New York Yankees out of the gates and over the years, that’s never fared well. There are several teams that could have strong claims to the title, but fall baseball is fun and often times surprising. Above all else, the Twins have excelled in surprising us.

Perhaps though we should consider more than how the Twins might fare this fall. Regardless of how the season does turn out, the Minnesota Twins’ surprising 2019 campaign has been a fun ride and in the endless story of the Boys of Summer, Minnesota has been well worth the ride. They remind us what baseball is — a game for kids and in each game in which Taylor Rodgers closes out a win, we are all boys and girls again, gloves in hand and bright-eyed.

Baseball is a kid’s game and a common ground for all people, regardless of ideologies and in a world as turbulent as this, in a ball diamond, still worthy of three hours of your time, we are all fans.

Best of luck to Rocco Baldelli and these Minnesota Twins who are taking us on a memorable ride.