"When" the GOP was a minority party?
You are the one that is making excuses why the GOP cannot possibly win any consequential Senate fights until some future day when the GOP has 60 Senate seats because it is just too much trouble to put up a real fight.
With that defeatist attitude, the Republicans may now have a Senate majority on paper but, as far as actually appointing a Federal judge, they are "still" a minority party.
With that defeatist attitude, the Republicans are mearly MINO's (Majority in Name Only).