Bill Kostroun | AP

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Randy Miller | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

NEW YORK — Against all odds, and we're talking ALL odds, the Minnesota Twins are in the playoffs.

They lost 103 games last year and were three games under .500 this year when pawning off a couple key pieces at the July 31 trade deadline.

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But here they are in the postseason as the American League’s second Wild Card, and it’s almost a sure thing that they’ll be in Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night playing the Yankees.

Will anyone give the Twins a chance?

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Probably not many outside of Minnesota even though anything can happen in a one-game playoff.

The Twins, after all, were just swept three games last week in New York, they’ve dropped 21 of 30 regular-season games at the current Yankee Stadium and they’ve lost 10 of 12 career playoff games to the Yankees in four series ... 2003, 2004, 2009 and 2010.

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Fellow Yankees beat writer Brendan Kuty listed reasons on Thursday why the Yankees are a “nightmare matchup” for the Twins, and now we’re going to go through some reasons why Minnesota must be taken seriously.

Here are six reasons to fear the Twins:

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6 reasons Yankees are nightmare matchup for Twins in Wild Card Game

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Jason Miller | Getty Images

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Twins hot, too

As good as the Yankees have looked winning 18 of their last 25 through Thursday, the Twins have been just as impressive going 31-20 since an Aug. 5 loss to Texas dropped their season record to 52-56.

Just before this surge, Twins management made a small push to make a playoff run by acquiring left-hander Jaime Garcia in a trade with the Atlanta Braves, but a bad week later led to Garcia being moved to the Yankees and closer Brandon Kintzler being dealt to the Washington Nationals for prospects.

Playing a lot of kids, the Twins beat out a bunch of other clubs that looked a lot better on paper two months ago ... the Kansas City Royals, Texas Rangers, Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Angels, Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays.

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Ron Schwane | AP

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Road warriors

The Twins lost three in a row at Yankee Stadium last week and dropped two of three in Cleveland this week, but their 44-37 road record is fourth best in the AL.

The only AL clubs with better marks away from home are Cleveland (53-28), Houston (51-27) and Boston (45-36).

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Carlos Osorio | AP

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Stacked lineup

The Twins don't have a lot of well-known players in their lineup besides first baseman Joe Mauer and second baseman Brian Dozier, but they can hit with just about anyone.

Their .260 batting average is fifth best in AL and their 802 runs through Thursday are fourth best.

Mauer is the Twins’ only .300 hitter at .305, but there’s lots of power on the club even with All-Star third baseman Miguel Sano (.267, 28 HR, 77 RBIs) on the DL and questionable to return Tuesday.

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The Twins' big bats include Dozier (.265, 33 HR, 90 RBIs), left fielder Eddie Rosario (.290, 27 HR, 78 RBIs), third baseman/DH Eduardo Escobar (.252, 20 HR, 70 RBIs), right fielder Max Kepler (.246, 19 HR, 68 RBIs), center fielder Byron Buxton (.255, 16 HR, 51 RBIs) and shortstop Jorge Polanco (.258, 13 HR, 74 RBIs).

“When you look up and down their lineup, you’re going to see only a couple veterans in it,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “It’s mostly a lot of young kids that have had really good years and have really grown up since last year, and that’s why they are where they are.”

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Rick Osentoski | USA TODAY Sports

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Few mistakes

The Twins probably won’t beat themselves in the Wild Card Game because they’re one of the best fielding teams in baseball.

Their .987 fielding percentage is tied for the best in the AL.

The right side of the Twins’ infield is very strong defensively with Dozier at second base (5 errors) and Mauer at first base (2 errors).

Also, catcher Jason Castro is strong behind the plate (2 errors, 5 passed balls, 46 steals in 106 games).

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Kathy Willens | AP

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Santana experienced

While the Yankees will have All-Star right-hander Luis Severino starting, the Twins will counter with their own All-Star righty in Ervin Santana.

Santana has had a tremendous season, as he’s 16-8 with a 3.28 ERA in 33 starts.

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Nerves could get to Severino, who is 23 and will be pitching in his first postseason game at any life, but playoff baseball is nothing new to Santana, a 34-year-old who has made eight appearances pitching for the Los Angeles Angels in five series from 2005-09.

This experience definitely won’t hurt Santana when he hears a full house at Yankee Stadium cheering against him on Tuesday.

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Ron Schwane | AP

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No pressure

The Yankees are home, they’ll be big favorites to win and all the pressure is on them to beat the Twins, who weren’t picked by anyone to be in the playoffs because they were so bad and so young last season.

Minnesota probably will go into Tuesday’s Wild Card Game as the looser team because it truly has nothing to lose with everything thinking the Yankees are an easy pick to advance to a Division Series.

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Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.