Pablo López followed Johan Santana’s path for Twins’ first playoff win in 19

MINNEAPOLIS — I’ve been waiting 19 years to write this story. And you’ve been waiting 19 years to read it.

Johan Santana threw seven shutout innings to defeat the New York Yankees, at Yankee Stadium, in Game 1 of the American League Division Series on Oct. 5, 2004. It marked the Minnesota Twins’ third straight season with a playoff win and was their sixth total postseason victory in three years.

I watched the game from my dorm at the University of Minnesota, an excited but nervous journalism student with visions of becoming a professional baseball writer. I had a blog and a tiny audience, most of which came from writing about Santana’s incredible journey from Rule 5 pick to the best pitcher in the world.

“Free Johan!” was my constant rallying cry as I advocated for the Twins to make him a full-time member of the rotation in 2002 and 2003, and then chronicled his rise to stardom once they finally did. Santana’s greatness gave me a topic to write passionately about and a growing audience that convinced me doing this for a living might actually be possible. He jump-started my dream.

Three thousand miles away, in Santana’s home of Venezuela, a kid named Pablo López was becoming similarly obsessed with the Twins’ superstar southpaw.

López idolized Santana, not as a Twins fan or an aspiring baseball writer, but as a young pitcher in their shared homeland with big-league fantasies who could now see a real path to get there. Santana jump-started his dream, too.

When the Twins acquired López in a risky mid-January trade with the Miami Marlins, parting with reigning batting champion and fan favorite Luis Arraez because they believed the 27-year-old right-hander had No. 1 starter upside, he could barely hold back his excitement to wear the same uniform as Santana.

“Every kid in Venezuela grew up a Johan Santana fan,” López said hours after learning of the trade. “As a youngster, I have vivid memories of watching him in a Twins uniform. I’m just very, very excited to be a Minnesota Twin.”

Nine months later, after López recorded his 234th strikeout of the season, the most by a Twins pitcher since Santana, he again reflected on how special it felt to do it wearing the same uniform as his childhood idol.

“That means a lot to me,” López said in September. “Any time my name is next to Santana in any way, in any category, anything, it means a lot to me. I grew up idolizing him. I’m just happy and proud. It means a lot to be a Twin. That’s the uniform he wore for a really long time. It just makes me really happy.”

By the time Santana shut down the Yankees on Oct. 5, 2004, everyone from Minneapolis to Cabimas knew how special he was. What no one could have possibly guessed at the moment was that it would be almost 19 years — 6,938 days, to be exact — until the Twins won another playoff game.

And when the Twins finally, mercifully did it Tuesday against the Toronto Blue Jays, winning 3-1 at Target…