The Minnesota Twins were sensational the first half of the season, surpassing all expectations except their own. They finished the first half of the season with the second-best record in the American League. Multiple players were on a roll and the team looked very confident, ready to thrive in the second half. That isn’t quite how it has played out, though. Since the break, the Twins are just 5-14. It has been far from pretty, as they have blown multiple leads late in games, and given away games with incredibly poor defense.
If we were to isolate the last few weeks from the rest of the season, it would seem clear that the Twins are one of the worst teams in all of baseball. There really haven’t been any bright spots during the stretch. The wins that they did scrap by with seemed to be lucky, and the losses were often games that they either gave away or just got pummeled. Remember though, this was the Twins team that we were supposed to see this season. With only a few minor changes to the roster, this is essentially the same Twins team that finished near the bottom of the standings last season. Most experts seem unsurprised by the Twins poor play as of late, as it was expected for them to drop off at some point even though there play was stellar at certain points this season.
One thing that the Minnesota Twins are lucky to be able to say is that they did have a stellar first half. There’s no denying that. If they hadn’t played so well, things would be looking much more bleak than they do now. The Twins have been absolutely awful for around 3 weeks, but they still find themselves in the midst of a playoff hunt. The division title looks to be out of reach at this point, as the Royals have continued another strong season, but the Twins still are within range of the wild card if they were to turn it around.
As things stand right now, the Twins are 3 games back of the Toronto Blue Jays (who just beat the Twins 4 consecutive times) for the final wild card spot. The Blue Jays just showed how quickly things can change with their four-game sweep of the Twins. Minnesota can only hope that something similar happens that goes their way this time. There is a lot of baseball left to be played, and the schedule gets quite a bit easier from here. The Twins have already played series’ against the red hot Blue Jays, the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Angels, and Pittsburgh Pirates in the second half. With 4 series remaining against the Cleveland Indians (who are well below .500 at the moment), the schedule may be in favor of the Twins down the stretch.
Though the Minnesota Twins have started to unravel in the second half of the season, this isn’t over just yet. Their destiny is still in their own hands. They might get hot and make a push; they might not. We will just have to wait and see.
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