Fun Fact: Only one team wins the World Series every year. Which means 29 teams don’t win the final game of the year which according to Moneyball means their season didn’t fucking matter. When a team gets eliminated from winning the World Series I’ll do a profile of their season.
Today’s Team….Minnesota Twins
How Did They Get Eliminated
On September 6th they lost their 6th straight game. Combined that with a Tigers win and the Twins were out in winning the division. To put the nail in the coffin they got swept by the White Sox at home in a four game series and then were buried in the ground with an extra inning loss to the D’Backs on Sept. 13th.
What Do I Know About This Team Because I Only Follow the Brewers
It was May 17th and it was Cribbage Board giveaway day at American Family Field. It was also the first game we were taking our son to. I packed copious amounts of food for us to grill. Had a small speaker for our music in hopes it would drown out all of the other music around us. We eat only half the food, as usual, and as soon as we set up everything, cook everything and eat we are taking it all down because my son wants to get into the game as soon as possible.
We knew it was going to be a hot giveaway that was going to take the oxygen out of the actual game that was being played on the field. And for good reason. The Twins came into the game winning 12 straight games. (If the Twin Cities was worth their weight in lefse they would have given away free Juicy Lucy’s or a lutefisk to celebrate.)
The Brewers on the other hand were toiling in mediocrity and were 21-24 heading into the game. The game itself will not be what I remember about that day.
We were sitting in the right field bleachers in the very first row. A prime spot to get a ball thrown up to us or better yet a home run ball. Sometime in the 5th or 6th inning a ball gets thrown in our general direction. A guy my age catches it and gives it to the kid that was behind us. Earlier, the kid had gotten a ball after warmups from a Twins pitcher. So the kid handed the ball to my son. A great moment that I will never forget.
In the 6th inning when the game was out of hand and the Brewers were cruising to another loss we left and thanked the kid again. I told him “Thank you again for the ball, that’s what keeps the game going.” and it really does. These little gestures can spark a lifelong love of a game.
The cribbage boards were cool too and we ended up getting three even though we were content with just one. The guy at the gate insisted our son got one despite the fact my son can’t even count to fifteen.
Anyway, the Twins would go on to win their 13th straight game, improve to 26-20 and be 4 games behind the Tigers but leading early on in the Wild Card race. The Brewers would fall to 21-25 and be 4th in the NL Central.
Apparently a lot of cribbage magic happened or something because since this game these two teams have gone in completely opposite directions. The Brewers have won the most games (69) and the Twins have won the least amount of games (39) in the American League. A league that still has the Chicago White Sox playing in it.
All of this led to the Twins essentially having the most notable fire sale in trade deadline history when anyone who was making 7 figures and had a pulse not named Byron Buxton was shipped out of Minnesota to a contender.
Their owners decided to not sell the team much to the chagrin of the fans.
So Now That I’ve Actually Done Some Research What Happened to this Team
The month of June was an absolute buzzsaw of teams that are now vying for playoff position. 3 walk off wins and getting swept by the Brewers were probably the lowlights. They have not played well on the road having the second worst record in the AL behind the White Sox. More bad news for the Twins, the White Sox just went to Minnesota and swept a 4 game series to close that gap. July would be a bit better, but not much better.
This led to the fire sale.
Will Castro to the Cubs. Carlos Correra and his newly signed contract back to Houston. Harrison Bader to Philly, Jhoan Duran to the Phillies as well, other players I have no opinion on going to contenders. It was the most baffling story coming out of the trade deadline.
Their ace pitcher, Pedro Lopez has missed 3 months which doesn’t help when the rest of the rotation outside of Joe Ryan has been very bleh.
Did Anything Go Right For This Team
They didn’t trade away their best player in Byron Buxton and he is having his best season already eclipsing season highs in home runs and RBI.
Joe Ryan has been able to be productive going 13-8 on the season with a 3.32 ERA and getting an All-Star Selection. Which has helped anchor the rotation with Lopez being out.
As a pitching staff they’ve given up the third least amount of walks, unfortunately they give up a lot of hits and are in the bottom third in the league in WHIP and opponents are batting .260 against them which is 3rd worst in the league.
If you only look at the first month of the season this was a great Twins team.
Are They Going to Get Good Anytime Soon?
It’s going to be tough for them to have a big bounce back year because you have to assume this is the last year for Manager Rocco Baldelli.
But because of all the wheeling and dealing they did at the deadline they do have the 2nd best farm system in the big leagues only behind the Dodgers. Most of their top prospects could be up in the big leagues fully in 2026. Their top prospect Walker Jenkins has been crushing it in the minors and is the number 14 overall prospect. They have another outfielder in Emmanuel Rodriguez who has shown a lot of promise but has had some health issues.
If they keep Byron Buxton around, which he is signed through 2028, they could have a formidable outfield for the next few years. Trevor Larnach has had a strong campaign having a career high in both Home Runs and RBI and is under team control through 2027.
The front end of their rotation is locked in through 2027 with Lopez, Ober and Ryan.
The future does seem to be looking up for the Twins and if given a season to get a new manager acclimated and having some young players get some big league experience they could be a team to look out for in 2027.
Just one postseason award.
Byron Buxton is having his best season but in a crowded AL its going to be hard to win the Silver Slugger, but he might be able to pull it off so lets get him a nod in that category.
Hey Grok, in 100 words summarize the 2025 Minnesota Twins and help me fill in some cracks I’m sure I missed. Please don't be racist.
The Minnesota Twins are struggling in the 2025 season with a record of 64-82 as of September 12, putting them in fourth place in the AL Central. A major mid-season "fire-sale" saw the team trade away 11 players, including star shortstop Carlos Correa, who was sent to the Houston Astros along with $30 million.
Despite the difficult season, there were some bright spots. Outfielder Byron Buxton hit for the first cycle in Target Field history and was named an All-Star, as was pitcher Joe Ryan. The team also had a 13-game winning streak in May, the second-longest in franchise history.
Looks like I didn’t miss much in my summary.
Did the Savannah Bananas Play at their Field?
Technically, the Banana Ball didn’t play at Target Field, but they did play it at their AAA affiliate stadium nearby in St. Paul. The Bananas didn’t even play in this game it was 2 other teams affiliated with Banana Ball. The actual Bananas were in Baltimore that weekend playing.
I guess that is the nice thing about this Banana Ball world tour. You don’t actually need the Bananas to play Banana Ball. You just need guys who can do backflips and dances during the game. Who cares what the uniform looks like.
Is there a baseball movie featuring this team that has dumb baseball logic I need to vent about?
Little Big League! I was going to watch this movie by the time they were eliminated but the game isn’t on a streaming service i use so I will have to settle for a wikipedia summary and what I can remember.
I remember one trick play in this game where the pitcher fakes a throw to first base and the entire team reacts like it was thrown away. Unfortunately, that is a balk.
This movie came out when the wild card was brand new so it was interesting to see that they utilize a wild card as something the team can shoot for instead of going all the way to a divisional win. Might be a little far-fetched that a team is 4 games down with 4 to play and the two teams both win and lose their respective games to force a game 163.
How Will Your Team Do Next Year?
As mentioned above they are probably a year or two away from contention, but if Buxton stays hot and this pitching staff can miss some bats they could surprise some people like they did when they won 13 straight in May. Next year it’s probably going to be 71-91.
Next on the Chopping Block
We are at the part of the season where teams are starting to fall faster. So I need to get on my horse and probably write an article for both the Athletics and the Braves.