News Twins Team Notes

[Minnesota Twins]

Twins 4, Rangers 1: Zebby tosses a gem

The night started inauspiciously for Zebby Matthews, allowing a solo homer to Joc Pederson on the second pitch. After giving up 9 runs over 3 innings in his last start, it was not a great omen. However, Matthews settled in and only allowed 3 more hits the rest of his start, tossing 7 innings, allowing no more runs, while striking out 6.

On the offensive side of things, the Twins took the lead in the 3rd inning. Kody Clemens doubled, then Christian Vazquez singled, moving Clemens to 3rd. Byron Buxton grounded out, scoring Clemens. Later, Ryan Jeffers hit an RBI single to put the Twins up 2-1.

In the 6th, Carson McCusker drew his first career walk (and was pinch ran for by James Outman), then Brooks Lee singled. Clemens followed with another single, scoring Outman. After Vazquez was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Austin Martin grounded out to 3rd, scoring Lee and giving the Twins a 4-1 lead.

Kody Funderburk took over for Zebby in the 8th, striking out 2 in a scoreless inning. Cole Sands closed the game out, tossing a 1-2-3 9th.

This was my last game thread of the year, unless maybe MLB decides to let the Twins into the playoffs (I think it would be fun). Thanks for joining these all year, despite how the season ended up going, it was always fun to chat with you all.

Studs:

Zebby Matthews: 7.0 IP, 4 H, ER, 0 BB, 6 K

Edouard Julien: 2-2, 2B, BB

Kody Clemens: 2-4, 2B, R, RBI

Duds:

NO DUDS TWINS WIN!

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/minnesota-twins-game-recaps/49315/twins-4-rangers-1-zebby-tosses-a-gem

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Game 157: Twins at Rangers

First Pitch: 7:05 PM CDT

TV: Twins.TV

Radio: TIBN, WCCO 830, The Wolf 102.9 FM, Audacy, LosTwins.com

Know thine enemy: Lone Star Ball

Today’s Lineups​

Byron Buxton – CF	Joc Pederson – DH
Austin Martin – LF	Wyatt Langford – CF
Ryan Jeffers – DH	Alejandro Osuna – LF
Luke Keaschall – 2B	Jake Burger – 1B
Royce Lewis – 3B	Adolis Garcia – RF
Carson McCusker – RF	Josh Jung – 3B
Brooks Lee – SS	Kyle Higashioka – C
Kody Clemens – 1B	Cody Freeman – 2B
Christian Vazquez – C	Ezequiel Duran – SS
Zebby Matthews – RHP	Patrick Corbin – LHP

[th]

TWINS​

[/th]​

[th]

RANGERS​

[/th]​

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/minnesota-twins-game-threads-2/49312/game-157-twins-at-rangers

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Rangers 4, Twins 2: I say “bye” with a little help from the pen

Pointing the Twins directly to the exit. | Jerome Miron / Imagn Images

Hell, this year of Twins was long:
I’d like to drown it in a beer.
And here’s a game where near the end went wrong,
A prime example shining clear.
Can’t hit with RISP and can’t drive with juice;
Ain’t here we want to be.
We hoped the squad would turn things on,
But we’re out of Twinsball to see, yeah.

That’s it for Twinsball here in September,
This was not a season we want to remember.
Four games to play and we’re waiting ‘til next year;
That’s it for Twinsball ‘til the spring premiere…

Well, Buxton launched a leadoff jack,
Taj had Rangers lumber dazed,
But Adams and Cabrera? Painful,
No one at all amazed.
A very Twins loss, same as all,
We knew just how this would be.
It’s not the type of game we like
Running out of Twinsball to see…

That’s it for Twinsball here in September,
This was not a season we want to remember.
Four games to play and we’re waiting ‘til next year;
That’s it for Twinsball ‘til the spring premiere…

Hell, this year of Twins was long,
It’s winding down to disappear.
Tonight, the Comment of the Game was strong:
It’s Zach with Doomy Bullpen Tier.
And as a bonus, have him and Goose
Debating music with glee.
The telly’s done, so turn it off,
Now we’re out of Twinsball to see.

That’s it for Twinsball here in September,
This was not a season we want to remember.
Four games to play and we’re waiting ‘til next year;
That’s it for Twinsball, not a lot to cheer…

That’s it for Twinsball here in September,
This was not a season we want to remember.
Four games to play and we’re waiting ‘til next year;
That’s it for Twinsball ‘til the spring premiere…

That’s it for Twinsball here in September,
This was not a season we want to remember.
Four games to play and we’re waiting ‘til next year;
That’s it for Twinsball, now get out of here…

Yeah, that’s it for Twinsball;
No, we oughtn’t remember.
Yeah, turn off the TV,
Ah-ah-ah…

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/minneso...le-help-from-the-pen-byron-buxton-taj-bradley

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Game 158: Twins at Rangers

First Pitch: 7:05 PM
TV: Twins.TV
Radio: TIBN, WCCO 830, The Wolf 102.9 FM, Audacy
Know Yo’ Foe: Lone Star Ball

The season is over — was that a rum year,
Blundering and chundering with plenty to jeer.
They sold half the guys which we can’t overcome,
Then pulled off the market and left us all numb,
No room to be jolly ’cause ownership blows;
You want to kick buttocks? Get started with Joe’s.
Each season, we’ve hopes up, then trouble begins;
If you want to see crazy, then look at the Twins.

It started in spring with a thirteen-game streak
That left us excited for week after week.
The pen was amazing, a wonderful gift,
They would fire it past hitters and all of them whiffed.
Our bats inconsistent but sometimes came clutch
With timely walk-offs that thrilled all the audience much.
The Pohlads announced they’d be selling at last;
Just imagine: this hope was mere months in the past.

The season is over — was that a rum year,
Blundering and chundering with plenty to jeer.
Quadruple-A team and the owners are scum,
With this in September, you see why we’re glum?
They call this Twinsball where I’m from.

But then came July and the deadline for trades,
And moves were announced coming down in cascades.
A week after this came the news of no selling,
And down off the cliffside we were jointly propelling.
Now in the cellar we don’t want to reside,
So thanks to the White Sox, too low for our slide.
Despite all the rubbish that’s left us this mess,
At our core, we are fans of the Twins nonetheless.

The season is over — was that a rum year,
Blundering and chundering with plenty to jeer.
It’s clubbed out a beat like a harbinger’s drum;
We’ve suffered so long, every fan is a chum;
They call this Twinsball where I’m from.

The field is set; we raise a glass:
Joe Pohlad, shove it right up your ass.
Now plop in your seat and crack open a beer,
There’s a game and we live in the present, so stand up and cheer!
They call this Twinsball where I’m from,
They call this Twinsball where I’m from.

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/minneso...just-five-games-to-go-have-an-early-christmas

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Twins 4, Rangers 0: 34-24 for Buck

Byron Buxton hits another leadoff home run for the Minnesota Twins in the rubber match between the Rangers and Twins who are both out of playoff contention.

Buxton was responsible for all four runs crossing home. He hit a home run also in the eighth with two runners on, and that one secured him a nice bag of cash.

Double cha-ching: Byron Buxton netted another $500,000 on this home run swing, after reaching 533 plate appearances this season.

He’s totaled $1 million via contract incentives. He can add another $3M if he finishes in the top 10 of AL MVP voting. pic.twitter.com/G2NrtJ1ZSD

— Bobby Nightengale (@nightengalejr) September 25, 2025

This was Byron Buxton’s 10th leadoff homer of the season. It’s the second time this season he has had back-to-back games with leadoff jacks. Now Buxton has 34 home runs and 24 stolen bases. He will need six swiped bags in the Phillies series to become the first Twin to ever record at least 30 home runs and at least 30 stolen bases.

Bailey Ober threw six innings with 5 K and 2 H. This tied his season low in hits and he did not allow a run for the first time this year. As for the rest of the pitching today, Funderburk threw a hitless seventh and Cole Sands struck out one in the ninth.

Twins head to the Phillies Friday to finish out the season against many former Twins. The Phillies have clinched a first round bye in the NL as they are the NL East champions.

First pitch tomorrow is 5:45 p.m. Joe Ryan is on the mound for the Twins.

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/minnesota-twins-game-recaps/49365/twins-4-rangers-0-34-24-for-buck

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Game 159: Twins vs. Rangers

First Pitch: 1:35 p.m.
TV: Twins.TV
Radio: TIBN, WCCO 830, The Wolf 102.9 FM
Know Yo’ Foe: Lone Star Ball

Twins rubber match lineup:

1. Buxton CF
2. Martin LF
3. Larnach DH
4. Clemens 2B
5. Lewis 3B
6. Lee SS
7. McCusker RF
8. Julien 1B
9. Vazquez C

P. Ober

Rangers rubber match lineup:

1. Pederson DH
2. Smith SS
3. Jung 3B
4. Tellez 1B
5. Osuna LF
6. Higashioka C
7. McKinney RF
8. Duran 2B
9. Helman CF

P. Mahle

It’s a rubber match today. Both teams are out of playoff contention as the Minnesota Twins wrap up their final road trip of the season this afternoon as they face the Texas Rangers in the finale of a three-game set in Arlington.

Minnesota (68-90) will hand the ball to right-hander Bailey Ober (5-9, 5.32 ERA.) Texas (80-78), who will start right-hander Tyler Mahle (6-3, 2.20 ERA), saw their slim playoff hopes officially dashed on Tuesday following a 4-1 loss to the Twins — their eighth straight defeat.

Buxton Watch:

Byron Buxton hit his career-high 32nd home run in last night’s game.

It's always nice to be up 1-0 before you get to your seat. Byron Buxton hits his 9th leadoff home run this season (18th career). #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/E6lZPmTJG5

— Dustin Morse (@morsecode) September 25, 2025

He is the first Twin surprisingly since Kirby Puckett to join the 30-20 club for the Minnesota Twins with 30 or more home runs and 20 or more stolen bases. Those have been the only two Twins to do it. Buxton is six stolen bases shy of 30 this season. It is very unlikely he will join that 30-30 club this year, but I say let him run! Overall the best season for Byron yet in his career, staying healthy and taking away runs in the outfield, on top of an electric bat in the lineup. The centerfielder turns 32 in December.

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/minnesota-twins-game-threads/49339/game-159-twins-vs-rangers

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Phillies 3, Twins 1: In binary it’s 11-1

The COTG is also the “lede.” (We journos call the first paragraph the “lede” because of weird 1920s newspaper printer terminology.) From nagurskiinnortheast: “Nice little rebound from Joe here unfortunately Nola is doing his best Gibson impression”

(At first I wondered “do you mean Kyle?” But he meant Bob. Anyhoo, onto the crappy recap.)

A write a little bit for this baseball blog, and another one with a post about Emile Zola. Z-O-L-A, Zola.

For the intro here, for the gamethread, you see, the pitcher’s name was listed TBD, but it’s Nola. N-O-L-A Nola.

Now I have written some bad recaps before

And intros that made some people snore

But Nola’s on, and I just can’t reisist

Although Matt Monitto would sure say “I insist.”

So, OK, enough of that.

Sad thing: Aaron Nola is from Baton Rouge, LA. Nothing wrong with Baton Rouge; I’ve never been there, but I’m sure it’s a perfectly decent place full of 60% good people, 30% boring people, and 10% a**holes, like most places.

But — if only Aaron Nola was from New Orleans. Which is commonly abbreviated as NOLA.

Alas, his parents did not take advantage of this opportunity to have their son born in the perfect place. Their loss, and a loss for us all.

Radio’s Kris Atteberry at one point talks about a giant spider feature in the outfield, and says it’s big enough “to put a saddle on it.”

I have no clue what this means. I think it means Kris Atteberry lives in a kind of alternate mental universe, where reality and fantasy are inextricably intertwined, and in this universe, there’s a saddle on a spider. I’m all for living an an alternate mental universe; I’d prefer one to the reality that exists in my head. But my alternative fantasy mental universe wouldn’t involve saddling spiders. (There’s a whole “metal universe” thing, which is a different thing, go learn about it!) My fantasy mental universe would probably be a lot of naked gorgeous people or something along those lines.

I typed “naked lady riding spider with saddle” into my search engine and this is the best it came up with:

OK. that’s pretty good. I almost want to make this the header image but I don’t think the site boss would approve. The horse seems to be doing fairly well despite missing a leg, or the fourth one being REALLY messed-up.

Atteberry says, of Kyle Schwarber: “do you think he presses? I don’t think he presses. He just impresses.”

Look, Kris, I wanna love ya, man. You’re a nerd. I love nerds. I wanna think of ya as the guy who actually still keeps score at ballgames, and has opinions on which is the best Twilight Zone episode. (I couldn’t pick one, but I’m partial to the one where a T.V. writer uses an occult spell to summon Shakespeare from the dead, and the idiot studio execs hate Shakespeare’s script. A bit too on the nose, Rod Serling, but you’re ALWAYS a bit too on the nose, and that’s why we love ya… plus, you’re never gonna get me mad suggesting that Hollywood studio executives are a bunch of tasteless dingbats.)

Not somebody who “presses.” I mean, that’s like Kamail Nanjani from The Big Sick roiding up for a Marvel movie. (You haven’t seen The Big Sick yet? See it! Your library has it! It’s also on Bald Facebook Supervillain channel, but nah, use your library. If you can.)

Probably the key game moment is Edmundo Sosa banging a dinger. (No relation to Sammy Sosa, S-O-S-A corked bat.) Joe Ryan absolutely fooled him on a breaking pitch, and Sosa was strong enough to mistime his swing and park it, anyways. Sometimes that just happens. You make a good pitch and fool the guy, and he happens to luck out and make contact in just the perfect way to get the maximum bat/ball bounce action.

View Link

Christian Rafael Vázquez hit a single in the ninth to make this slightly less dull, and other radio guy Dan Gladden thinks it was closer Jhoan “Dances on the Sand” Duran serving up a cookie, as a thank-you to his former teammate. I mean, I dunno? I generally think every MLB player wants to beat every other MLB player at everything, including who can finish crossword puzzles faster or scarf a pizza in record time. But, as much as I kid Gladden, when he talks about what he thinks he’s seeing on the field, he’s right more often than he’s wrong. So maybe he’s right here.

Second COTG goes to sandwiches for “James, I have your recap for you:

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa”

Sure to get this post adored on Apple News.

Studs: all of you readers who’ve tolerated my bullcrap for 11 years. Duds: me for this crummy recap. I will have better stuff for you folks soon! I’m just a bit beat down at the moment. There’s always gonna be more bizarre baseball players and stupid Manfred decisions to write about. Plus, you know, John Fisher exists.

Tomorrow’s game is at 5:05, and features one Ranger Suárez pitching against one Mick Abel, and 30 seconds ago I had no idea a person named Mick Abel played for the Twins. Sorry I’m not professional enough to know about Abel, except that Lorenzo Cain would have absolutely crushed him.

Enjoy your weekend if you got one!

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/minnesota-twins-game-recaps/49385/phillies-3-twins-1-in-binary-its-11-1

 

[Minnesota Twins]

The 2015 Twins take it down to the wire

As the dog days of August 2015 came to a close, the Minnesota Twins looked to be falling out of the playoff race—even Wild Card contention. The early season mega-optimism had seemingly given way to regression to the mean.

But then, an amazing thing happened…

From late-August into early-September, the ‘15 Twins ripped off a 10-2 stretch—vaulting them back into the Wild Card hunt (the KC Royals were running away with the Central)!

Hope had been renewed for the home stretch!

But then—another stumble: five consecutive losses in mid-September looked to again drop the surprising Twins from postseason contention.

I wasn’t giving up—but things looked grim.

Yet, the rollercoaster would still continue clacking: an 8-3 run in late September!!! There was that “white-hot winning play” referenced above!

Heading into the 2015 season’s final weekend, the Twins found themselves a single game behind the Houston Astros (surprise, surprise—although it very much was back in ‘15) in the race for the final Wild Card slot.

The final obstacle: a 3-game Target Field series with the eventual World Series champion Royals. Despite jumping out to a lead in Game 1 and getting a gem—7 IP, 2 ER—from Ervin Santana, the Twins crashed out versus the Crowns, 3-1.

Game 161 was also meaningful—but again heartbreaking: Not Mommy Tilone Tommy Milone, Blaine Boyer, nor Neal Cotts could do much from the mound—5-1 KC.

Game 162 would be the only meaningless contest of 2015 for our Twins.

One could argue that 2015 was one of the most exciting and important seasons of Twins baseball ever played. After the 2011-2014 doldrums, this winning bunch brought an energy back to the ballpark—whether Twinkle Toes Torii or Bashing Brian—that revitalized interest in the franchise.

They simply came one game short of extending the fun into spooky season.

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/minneso...-2015-wild-card-race-eliminated-final-weekend

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Twins 5, Phillies 0: One More For the Road

Mick Abel ended his Twins debut season on a high note, turning in arguably the best start of his young career against the team that traded him away just two months prior. Turning six shutout innings with nine strikeouts and only three hits, Abel led the 2025 Twins to a rare complete late-season victory against the Fightin’ Phils, as Minnesota shut out the home team by a 5-0 margin.

That tally started very quickly, with Byron Buxton launching another leadoff homer in the first. For the Truck Driver, it was bomba number 35 on his dazzling season, a round-enough number that will give him plenty to be proud of over the winter.

For his part, it also seemed to inspire some of the fringe position players on the roster to show they had a little left in the tank at the end of a long season. James Outman hit a solo homer in the fifth, and Ryan Fitzgerald hit the fourth of his career in the seventh.

Also in the seventh came a Ryan Jeffers double — number 25 on the year, fielded by Harrison Bader, and scoring Austin Martin.

Beyond that, fans enjoyed seeing the first major-league RBI for Carson McCusker, who grounded into a fourth-inning forceout that plated Kody Clemens.

The Twins had 11 hits tonight, nine of which came against Ranger Suarez in a start that did not make it through the fifth inning. Philadelphia burned four more relivers to finish the game; the Twins were able to get by with Pierson Ohl and Kody Funderburk alone.

But most importantly, the streak is finally over. The Twins decided to win a game for my last recap of ‘25 after not winning on any other Saturday since before the All-Star Break (and losing both games of a Sunday doubleheader that I covered, just for style points.) As I’m sure you’d agree, the real joy of TwinkieTown.com is not keeping up with the Twins, it’s keeping up with me.

And tonight, I’m doin’ just fine.

STUDS:

SP Mick Abel (6 IP, 3 H, BB, 9 K)

RP Pierson Ohl (2 IP, 2 H, 3 K)

DH Byron Buxton (2-for-5, R, RBI, HR)

LF Austin Martin (2-for-4, R, BB)

C Ryan Jeffers (2-for-4, RBI, 2B)

DUDS:

NO DUDS! TWINS WIN! TWINS WIN!

(The Pohlad Family)

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/minneso...9421/twins-5-phillies-0-one-more-for-the-road

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Game 161: Twins at Phillies

First Pitch: 5:05 pm CDT
TV: Twins.TV
Radio: TIBN / WCCO 830 / The Wolf 102.9 FM / Audacy

KNOW THINE ENEMY: The Good Phight

Every year, for quite a long time now, I write a preview for Game 161. Something about the nature of this game is more melancholy to me than Game 162; that game is final, the foregone conclusion of a long season. Game 161 is more of an acknowledgment — and for some reason, the feeling that something is almost over can be more sentimental than the actual finish.

Today we get to experience that “almost-over” feeling, as this is the last Twins game of the year before the last one, period. It’s usually a game ripe for waxing poetic, an effect amplified by the fact that former Phillie starter Mick Abel will be squaring up against the likes of Jhoan Duran, Harrison Bader, and Max Kepler, in what would have been a head-scratching matchup about 12 months ago.

The Twins are playing mostly to avoid 93 total losses — the tally stands at 91 — as well as get a couple of last looks at some of the guys who might actually be here in 2026. Abel is one, but the lineup is full of question marks, as it’s comprised entirely of fringe major-leaguers and winter trade candidates.

For now, they remain, and this evening at Citizens Bank Park, they play a much more interesting ballclub who is about to make some noise in their fourth straight postseason following an 11-year hiatus.

GO TWINS GO!

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/minnesota-twins-game-threads/49413/game-161-twins-at-phillies

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Game 162: Twins at Phillies

FIRST PITCH: 2:05 PM CDT​

TV: Twins.TV​

RADIO: TREASURE ISLAND BASEBALL NETWORK​

KNOW THINE ENEMY: The Good Phight​

“I know that I can’t take no more—it ain’t no lie”

This is it. The last Minnesota Twins baseball game of the season. It’s never good when your favorite team’s final contest has been scheduled on a calendar for over a year, but here we are.

“Don’t really wanna make it tough—I just wanna tell you that I’ve had enough”

In some ways, Game 162 of 2025 is a mercy. No more bad baseball from a largely uninspiring mix (especially post-trade deadline). It’s time to hit the reset button, take the cartridge out, blow on it a few times, and hope for better results next time.

“I’m giving up I know for sure—I don’t wanna be the reason for your love no more”

At the same time, this is also a sad moment. We’re all here because we love baseball—and that is now at an end. Sure, the playoffs will continue through October (maybe November—yeesh), but they’ll be enjoyed from a distance—not like this.

“I’m checking out, I’m signing off—I don’t wanna be the loser and I’ve had enough”

What James Fillmore started back in March, I’ll finish this late-afternoon (I was up early to watch the Vikings, so a “baseball nap” may or may not occur at some point). See ya’ll in the final recap of 2025.

“Baby bye bye bye”

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/minneso...s-philadelphia-phillies-game-162-the-last-one

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Phillies 2, Twins 1: Good—bye

Before any mention of diamond activity, I want to dispense the heartiest of thank-you’s to all the writers and commenters here on Twinkie Town. For the most part—let’s say June onward—this has been a horrible season. The Pohlad ownership group flipped fans the perpetual bird, your favorite player (minus Byron Buxton, ironically) was likely either hurt most of the season or traded away, and by late-September the lineup and bullpen was largely staffed by guys who should be in the minors. Yet, through it all, many of you stuck around deep into the morass to continue commentating. I’ve mentioned this before, but this year even I found myself contributing to more game thread commentary than ever before. So, thank you all for making this a top-flight Minnesota Twins community—come hell or high water.

In terms of the actual baseball played today, Twins SP Simeon Woods-Richardson closed his 2025 campaign out on a high note: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 9 K.

Alas, Cristopher Sanchez matched him hurl for hurl: 5.2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 8 K. A true pitcher’s duel (or possibly just two teams with nothing left to play for along very different reasonings).

The visitors finally dented the scoreboard in T6 when Austin Martin walked and was propelled along the base paths (capped off by a dive into the plate) via Ryan Jeffers’ double. 1-0 MIN.

It looked like the Twins might carry that 1-0 line over the finish line—until old friend Max Kepler said “nahhh—you aren’t getting out of Philly that easily”, smashing a solo shot off Genesis Cabrera in B8. 1-1 tie.

So, in the ultimate of ironies, when Cole Sands polished off a clean B9 the season that every Twins fan wanted to be over was extended into Bonus Baseball (TM).

Of course, YOUR 2025 Twims (intentionally spelled wrong in keeping with the year-long meme) failed to score in T10, leading to another irony (will they ever cease?!): the season came to a close on a sacrifice fly that sent another old-friend-turned-competitor Harrison “Darth” Bader scampering home.

Your Sunday afternoon final: Philadelphia Phillies 2, Minnesota Twins 1

Your 2025 Minnesota Twins final: 70-92

I already said my thank-you’s up top and will not initiate the Midwestern 30-minute goodbye (I prefer the Irish variety). To paraphrase the sing-along that ended each day of kindergarten (thank you, Mrs. Hosch)…

“Goodbye now, goodbye now, the clock says we’re done…I’ll see you next season, goodbye everyone”

Studs​

• Everyone who penned a post or concocted a comment on Twinkie Town this season. We appreciate you!
• Woods-Richardson: Should the Pohlads decide not to continue tearing down the roster, one can still dream on a Lopez-Ryan-Ober-Matthews-SWR rotation in 2026

Duds​

• Pohlad ownership group (perma-dud)
• Kepler: Extending the ‘25 misery

Comment of the Game​

• Minnesota1952 sharing my absolute enthusiasm for an extra-inning meaningless Game 162.

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/minneso...s-game-162-finally-this-rotten-season-is-over

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Rocco Baldelli Fired

The Minnesota Twins have announced that manager Rocco Baldelli will not be returning in 2026.

The Minnesota Twins today announced that Rocco Baldelli will not return as the club’s manager in 2026. pic.twitter.com/IgGgOMfhHI

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) September 29, 2025

Baldelli was hired by the Twins in 2018, replacing Paul Molitor. He had previously served as the major league field coordinator for the Tampa Bay Rays. Baldelli had been picked 6th overall by the Rays in 2000 and played for the Rays and Boston Red Sox between 2003 and 2010, before retiring due to injuries.

After seven seasons with the team, Baldelli finishes his stint with the Twins as the third-winningest manager in club history, behind Tom Kelly and Ron Gardenhire, with an overall record of 527-505. In his time with the Twins, he won the AL Manager of the Year award in 2019 as the Bomba Twins took the majors by storm, setting the record for most home runs in a year, and won the AL Central crown three times, in 2019, 2020, and 2023. However, in his other four years, the team finished at least 10.5 games back of the division leader.

Baldelli certainly had his vocal detractors. Seen as a player-friendly manager, it was rare to see any emotion from the dugout. He certainly had his blowups with umpires, but for those of us raised on infamous Gardenhire ejections, this was a far cry from that. His strategic calls were also often called into question, often around the topics of analytics. He would yank a starter too quickly because his third-time-through-the-order numbers were terrible; he would be extremely rigid with platoon splits, pinch-hitting for lefties when facing righty pitches, even when the replacement hitter was a worse batter. But to say that the collapse in the past few seasons was only due to strategic decisions would be a short-sighted argument.

He will probably go down in history as the Twins manager who broke the infamous playoff game and series losing streak in 2023, as the Twins finally won a playoff game for the first time in 2004 and won a series since 2002. However, since 2023, by no fault of his own, the team has been slowly decimated, through cut payroll, broken promises, and teases of hope.

After the brilliant 2023 season, owner Joe Pohlad announced the team would be “right-sizing” their payroll by slashing $25 million. However, the team did find a way to succeed, with a high-water mark of a 70-53 record on August 17, 2024, before injuries and poor offense doomed the team to finish fourth in a stacked AL Central. Still, there was hope in 2025 that a healthy and deep rotation, potential improvement from young players like Royce Lewis and Matt Wallner, and one of the best bullpens in baseball could help this team return to the playoffs. News of a potential sale to new ownership also buoyed fan interest.

Unfortunately, the offensive struggles continued, and despite a 12-game winning streak in early May that put the team over .500, the Twins were never able to win games consistently. A Pablo Lopez injury, poor hitting performances from Carlos Correa and Lewis, and random blow-ups from the bullpen prevented the Twins from taking advantage of the best season in recent history from Byron Buxton. In addition, the team sale fell through, and it seemed as if the penny-pinching ways were to continue. Baldelli did get his team option for 2026 picked up, indicating that ownership was planning to stick by their man. Almost to reinforce that, a fire sale at the trade deadline doomed the rest of the season for the Twins, as if the team didn’t want to place the blame for a lost season on their manager.

And yet, at the end of the 2025 season, the Twins now find themselves manager-less. The end of the season was atrocious, with the team finishing the second half of the season with a 23-43 record. To put that into perspective, the Colorado Rockies, who finished with the worst record in the major leagues this year, had a 21-45 record. Even with a team that lost 10 major league-caliber players over the trade deadline, to finish as poorly as they did warranted a change.

Plenty of ink will be spilled on potential replacements, but the main issue still stands. The Twins just frankly aren’t spending enough money on a baseball team that can compete, and they aren’t developing players to compete at a high enough level. A new manager isn’t going to necessarily improve hitting and pitching development down to the minor league level or help sign a big free agent at a discount. The core issue with the Twins is the organization as a whole, and unfortunately, any manager who takes this job is doomed to deal with the consequences of poor ownership.

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/minnesota-twins-news/49459/rocco-baldelli-fired

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Game 160: Twins at Phillies

First pitch: 5:45 Central​

Weather: National Weather Service somewhat still gutted, temperature perfect, 75°​

Opponent’s SB site: The Good Phight (not a great name, but TwinkieTown ain’t ideal either)​

TV: Twins TV. Radio: What state gave us Billie Holiday, Joan Jett, and Ween? Guess! Hint: not Wyoming​

Today’s starting pitcher contestants include the formidable TBD, a pitcher so intimidating, none dare speaketh or typeth his full name, only the initials. For the Twins, it’s Deadhead Joe Ryan. Ryan is currently living in a week-by-week rental hotel with four packed suitcases and a three-day rotation of clean clothes. Not because he expects to be traded. Because he’s Jackie Daytona.

Here are the pitcher stats, I know you all love the pitcher stats:

I’m going to spend a few words talking about current MLB.com Twins beat writer Matthew Leach. Who is fine. He’s perfectly normal and fine. But he did write one recent line that bugged me.

Leach likes to mention his favorite music acts, in his columns. No doubt, he has seen all of them live, or will soon. Maybe buys a T-shirt at each concert, from an approved vendor. I would imagine so.

Anyhoo, Leach’s latest “Twins mailbag” post had this line in it, about a concert scheduled at Target Field for next year:

“The opening act is the legendary Sleater-Kinney (don’t you dare miss them if you go).”

No. Just, no. You don’t get to love Sleater-Kinney, Mr. Leach. You just don’t.

Sleater-Kinney is a band for us, OK? The people who have never quite fit in. I imagine Matthew Leach fits in everywhere.

Here’s how I suspect Mr. Leach’s life has gone.

Had a good GPA in high school. Upper 3s. The guidance counselor suggested “journalism school,” and Matt – who’d already written three articles praising the wrestling team for the school paper – agreed. Matt didn’t get into his top choice, but he got into his second. And loved every minute of it. “Grammar for journalists” was his favorite course, although he enjoyed them all.

Matt graduated, and got a job writing press releases for the USA Network. The title Silk Stalkings was a proud brainstorm coinage. Eventually, Matt was able to find internships, and then employment, with baseball teams! Matt so loves baseball. When it’s not taking time away from his hanging out with favorite friends. Like Matt, they are successful people, starting to think about what their retirement options should be. There’s so many different wealth-management companies to choose from!

In fact, Matt’s going to a free steakhouse dinner, next Tuesday. The free dinner is hosted by one of those wealth-management companies. Promising much better annual returns on investment than any other company.

Matt does not notice the one slightly-scruffy gentleman in the corner, snickering under his breath as the slide-show math numbers quite clearly do not add up and muttering “this presenter’s flop sweat is up there with Albert Brooks in that one scene from Broadcast News.” Whose spouse is saying, “now there, keep it down, James.”

I resent the fact that Matt Leach likes Sleater-Kinney. I’m glad he enjoys the music, it’s great! But I don’t want it to be for normies like him. I want it to be for weirdos like us. The kind of people who would get this bit:

At any rate.

I was looking for something else, and found this: https://jacobbielecki.substack.com/p/the-life-and-times-of-hack-wilson

It’s about Pennsylvania-born slugger Hack Wilson. Who lived hard and died rough, and had more talent than 99% of anybody who’s ever played MLB baseball — and 100% of people playing MLB baseball are better at that than 99% of us will ever be at anything. Yes, Michael Tonkin kinda sucks at being a relief pitcher. But Michael Tonkin only sucks compared to Griffin Jax, and Griffin Jax sucks compared to Mariano Rivera. Compared to how good you or I am at anything, Michael Tonkin is the guy who can juggle three bowling pins in his right hand while composing Mozart-level piano sonatas with his left hand. The most average and blah MLB player is a supreme, otherworldly talent. And wow was Hack Wilson talented.

I’m not going to just rip off Jacob Bielecki’s post and summarize it here. Go read it. But I’ll give you highlights.

“At the beginning of the 20th Century, Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, a town thirty miles northwest of Pittsburgh, was home to steel and other heavy industries. Ellwood City attracted rough and tumble types who worked long back breaking hours in the steel mills or coal mines and drank heavily once they clocked out. The city was named after Isaac L. Ellwood, the inventor of barbed wire, a perfect name for such a harsh town.“

On a manager/player interaction: “‘McCarthy did make one attempt to curb his star player’s drinking. He invited Hack to his office and placed one worm inside a glass of whiskey and one inside a glass of water. When the worm in the whiskey died, McCarthy asked “What does this teach you?” Hack replied, “If you drink whiskey, you won’t get worms.’”

Hack Wilson had, from 1926-1930, an OPS of 1.031. Which is off the charts! Anything above .800 is good, above .900 is perpetual All-Star, and above 1.000 is “wow are you roided.” But Hack Wilson was not roided, since A-Rod wasn’t alive yet to pass him the phone# of Dr. Feelgood. Wilson was that good on pure talent.

Talent which he drank away. And drank himself into an early grave. And he cheated on his wife (not the first MLB player or the last to do so), neglected his son (who became a school principal and refused to attend his dad’s funeral). Owned a bar, and would entertain bar patrons by singing (oh good grief would I love to have a recording of what that sounded like).

Was Hack Wilson a good person? No. Neither am I, although I don’t neglect any kids, but I might if I had some, I dunno. Was Wilson a talented person? Oh, absolutely yes. A complicated person? Most of us are. And that’s what makes us interesting.

So, to cycle back, Matt Leach. Give me something that suggests a complicated person. Don’t be giving me team fluffery that A.I. could do. Do like Jacob Bielecki and give me stories about a weird stubby-looking drunk-a** dude who mashed taters, or about Allen Roth, the Canadian who invented modern baseball statistics. (That’s in this post. This Bielecki writer guy is really good! I’m sure you readers all know other good writers, too!)

Because, if you’re not gonna celebrate or be complicated & weird, then don’t suggest Sleater-Kinney. Stick to Nickelback or Creed.

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/minnesota-twins-game-threads/49344/game-160-twins-at-phillies

 

[Minnesota Twins]

The Twins Fan Guide to the Postseason: AL Edition

The Minnesota Twins have missed the playoffs for the fourth time in the last five seasons after their latest and greatest collapse. The good news is that there is still plenty of baseball to watch for the next month featuring some of the best players in recent Twins history.

With 12 teams in the postseason, we need some clear criteria on how to break them down. So with that in mind, we’ll be using the following five categories and assigning a score between 1-10 for each. Best cumulative score wins all Twins fans’ support for October.

• Twins Connections: how connected are you to the Minnesota Twins? This includes former Twins players, prospects, coaches, or greater Minnesota ties. Additionally, are there any current Twins who would get rings if you win the World Series? The longer tenured your former Twins, the better your score.
• Entertainment: How fun is it to watch you play baseball? Style of play is a factor, but moreso do you have players and storylines that are fun to root for and players who have fun on the field? Think Harrison Bader. Ironically, a bad bullpen also plays up here because it keeps things interesting.
• Ethical Ball: This is the style-of-play and anti-Cleveland Guardians category, who I find both infuriating and unenjoyable to watch. We don’t want all homers or all dink-and-dunk singles, we want a power/speed mix, aces to carry you, and an elite bullpen with good stuff.
• Most Recent World Series: This is straightforward, how recently have you won a championship? I like some 2019 Nationals/2023 Diamondbacks out-of-nowhere deep postseason runs, sorry Dodgers.
• Intangibles: a catch-all category to award or dock points as I see fit. Is your owner ideologically aligned with the Pohlads? How many former Cleveland Guardians do you have on your roster? Do you now or have you ever employed Aroldis Chapman? Are you the Yankees? All these things will lower your score in the intangibles category.

We’ll go by postseason seeding and award a champion at the end. Let’s get into the definitive guide of who Twins fans should root for this postseason!

Toronto Blue Jays​

Twins Connections: 7/10

• Jose Berrios: 6 seasons with Twins
• Louis Varland: 4 seasons with Twins
• David Popkins (coach): 3 seasons as Twins hitting coach
• Ty France/Isiah Kiner-Falefa 1 season(ish) with Twins
• Jeff Hoffman: Spring Training with Twins that revitalized his career
• Twins Rings: Alan Roden

Berrios was one of my favorite Twins while he was here and Varland was a great development success story and a Minnesota native to boot. There’s also something funny about the Twins firing Popkins, him going to the Jays and Toronto immediately having the best offense in MLB. And while it would be fun for Roden to get a ring, his 12 games with the Twins before his injury were uninspiring and I have no personal connection to him.

Entertainment: 7/10

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is as fun as they come and had an excellent season after a rough start. George Springer has revived his career and put up a 166 wRC+ (career best) and 5.2 WAR (second highest of career) at 35 years old. Alejandro Kirk is like if Willians Astudillo was actually good. After that, every single player in their regular lineup has an above-average wRC+ except for Andres Gimenez, who is one of the five best fielders in baseball. Bo Bichette may be able to return to DH in the ALDS as well, bringing another strong bat to a deep lineup.

On the pitching side, things are a bit more suspect, which could actually make things more entertaining. Injuries to Jose Berrios and Chris Bassitt leave questions in the rotation after ace Twins 2023 postseason legend Kevin Gausman. Shane Bieber, who just returned from Tommy John surgery, is lined up to start Game 2 of the ALDS, while 42-year-old Max Scherzer and 2024 draftee Trey Yesavage (80-grade name) are in line to start games 3 and 4, respectively. A questionable bullpen leaves just enough entertainment late in the game.

Ethical Ball: 6/10

While the pitching woes will make for some strong entertainment, the Jays lose some points here for their lack of starting pitching and questionable bullpen. Conversely, their lineup ranks high here. They have a strong mix of power bats (Springer, Vladdy, Addison Barger) and elite role players that do the small things well (Nathan Lukes, Daulton Varsho, Ernie Clement, Gimenez). If Anthony Santander can shake off injury-related slump and Bichette can return, the lineup is good enough for me to bump their score to a 7.

Recent World Series: 8/10

The Blue Jays haven’t won a championship or league pennant since 1993, though this is relatively recent compared to other postseason teams, which knocks them down to an 8.

Intangibles: 9/10

Thankfully, this team has never employed Aroldis Chapman, is not the Yankees, and the ownership consortium does not seem to align themselves with the Pohlads’ way of thinking. Rogers Communication, the Canadian telecom company that owns the Jays, has repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to invest on the field and their community. They were one of the finalists for Shohei Ohtani two winters ago, which doesn’t happen accidentally. Additionally, Blue Jays fans seem very nice and Canada is geographically close to Minnesota. Unfortunately, they do employ a few too many former Guardians for my taste (Bieber, Clement, Santander, Gimenez, Straw, Sandlin) so they’re left with a solid 9.

FINAL SCORE: 37/50

Seattle Mariners​

Twins Connections: 6/10

• Jorge Polanco: 10 seasons with Twins
• Mitch Garver: 5 seasons with Twins
• Donovan Solano: 1 season with Twins
• Luke Raley/Casey Legumina: Former Twins prospects

You can’t tell the story of recent Twins success without Jorge Polanco so he gets a heavier weight. Additionally, Garver’s 2019 breakout where he hit 31 bombas in just 93 games was a highlight of a season full of them. And Solano was instrumental in 2023’s long-awaited curse-breaking postseason win, though he was cut a month ago and Garver barely plays, which knocks them down despite Polanco’s great season.

Entertainment: 8/10

Cal Raleigh just had the best catcher season in MLB history and is giving Aaron Judge a run for his money in the AL MVP race. Julio Rodriguez is the embodiment of baseball fun. Randy Arozarena is a historically elite October hitter. And Josh Naylor, Eugenio Suarez, JP Crawford, Polanco, and Garver are capable of getting hot and carrying the team by themselves. Their starting staff of Woo, Gilbert, Kirby, Miller, and Castillo might be the best in baseball, but one of them will need to pitch out of the bullpen.

In the bullpen, Andres Munoz is probably the best closer in baseball right now. Matt Brash has one of the 5 best breaking balls in MLB. And Eduard Bazardo and Gabe Speier have quietly turned in solid seasons on the middle of Seattle’s relief corps. Brash and Munoz are just wild enough to keep things interesting at the end of games too.

Ethical Ball: 9/10

The Mariners targeted their main ethical weak points at the trade deadline, acquiring Naylor and Suarez from the Diamondbacks to bring some much-needed power to their lineup. They could use some work on the speed and defense side with JP Crawford having a down year in the field and on the bases, while Jorge Polanco’s return to the field took exciting rookie Cole Young out of the lineup.

On the pitching side, they unquestionably have the aces, but have the difficult task of deciding which of the four gets bumped from the rotation and run the risk of choosing incorrectly. They also feel a reliever short, but Bryce Miller or Luis Castillo could potentially fix that.

Recent World Series: 10/10

The Mariners have never won the World Series OR the AL pennant and just on their first division title since 2001. If these guys aren’t a 10, then who is?

Intangibles: 6/10

While the Mariners have shown a willingness to invest in the team in recent seasons, longtime GM Jerry Dipoto is responsible for saying out loud the thing many baseball fans hate: that the main goal of the franchise is to win 54% of your games over a 10 year period, which is an 87 win pace. While mathematically that does make sense now with the expanded playoff field, it’s not something you want to hear from the person leading your franchise. HUGE demerit there.

However, the Seattle Mariners are famously not the New York Yankees, have never employed Aroldis Chapman, and only employ a single former Guardian (Naylor). Good recovery, Seattle.

FINAL SCORE: 39/50

Cleveland Guardians​

Twins Connections: 1/10

• Carlos Santana: 1 season with Twins
• Sam Hentges: from Arden Hills, MN
• Derek Falvey: former assistant GM

Carlos Santana is now on the Cubs after getting cut earlier this season. Sam Hentges is out for the year after undergoing knee surgery. Falvey just had four terrible collapses in five seasons and got promoted as a result. Go Tigers!

Entertainment: 1/10

If I can borrow a phrase from a Tweet I currently can’t find, the Guardians’ lineup is Jose Ramirez and a bunch of raccoons in a trench coat. Ramirez is incredible and one of two players (Kyle Manzardo) in the lineup hitting above league average. The collective wRC+ of the 10 players with at least 300 plate appearances besides Ramirez and Manzardo is 82, the same as Brooks Lee’s 2025 total. They’ve scored the fewest runs in baseball, hit the ball weaker than any other team by a wide margin, and do it while claiming that they’re playing the game the “right way.” These guys suck.

Things aren’t much better on the pitching side. Star closer Emmanuel Clase is pseudo-suspended while the league is investigating him for gambling. Cade Smith is incredible as their next man up, but this isn’t the Cleveland baseball you got used to in the 2010s. Gavin Williams is prone to walk 5 batters in any start, Tanner Bibee gets hit around, and everything behind them is smoke and mirrors. This is a bad baseball team who is incredibly unenjoyable to watch who used devil’s magic to win the AL Central with a -6 run differential.

Ethical Ball: 1/10

Guardians players, fans, and social media are going to try to make you think that because they don’t hit home runs or strike out that they play an ethical brand of baseball. Don’t believe them. There’s nothing ethical about grounding out to short in every single at-bat. Don’t fall for the propaganda!!

Also, in terms of real life ethics, Clase and Luis L. Ortiz are currently being investigated for gambling on baseball and fixing pitch outcomes, the cardinal sin of sports. There’s nothing to like about the Cleveland Guardians.

Recent World Series: 6/10

Sure, Cleveland hasn’t won a World Series since 1948 or a pennant since 2016, but they’re a postseason mainstay and just went to the ALCS last season. Also, I don’t like them and I’m writing this article. It already pains me that I can’t give them the lowest total score imaginable, so I was just looking for any excuse I can to knock them down a few pegs.

Intangibles: 1/10

Cleveland may not be the Yankees, but they score terrible marks in every other relevant category. Their ownership is perfectly aligned with the Pohlads, perhaps even to a more extreme degree. The Guardians have never employed Aroldis Chapman, but are the former longtime employers of both Mike Clevinger and Trevor Bauer, two of the all around worst people in the sport. Also, famously, every player on the roster is a future former Guardian. Add on the fact that their fans are quite unpleasant and Progressive Field having a terrible in-game experience, and that’s how you get a 1 in this game.

FINAL SCORE: 10/50 (but spiritually, even lower)

New York Yankees​

Twins Connections: 2/10

• Brent Headrick: 2 seasons with Twins
• Ian Hamilton: 1 season with Twins
• Luis Gil: Former Twins prospect
• James Rowson: Former Twins hitting coach

Unfortunately, the only active former Twin with the Yankees is the hitting coach. Headrick is on the IL, Gil may have a chance to start if the Yankees advance, but his performance in 11 starts after returning from injury was underwhelming. Twins connections are poor, plus we hate them so that’s not ideal.

Entertainment: 9/10

Hate him if you want, but Aaron Judge is so fun to watch. He’s the best hitter since Barry Bonds and puts up video game numbers every year. Then he goes around and looks lost in the playoffs. He also can’t throw after an elbow injury a month ago, which the fates have foretold will cost the Yankees a game at some point this postseason. It’s going to be a great time. Add in a vintage Giancarlo Stanton performance, bounce backs from Cody Bellinger and Jazz Chisholm Jr., and breakout seasons from Trent Grisham and Ben Rice and these Yankees unquestionably have a fun lineup.

Max Fried and Carlos Rodon lead a strong rotation for the Yankees, and another prophecy has been revealed that a broadcaster will stumble over Cam Schlittler’s name, who has been very good in his own right. The revamped bullpen with David Bednar, Camilo Doval, and holdovers Devin Williams, Luke Weaver, and Fernando Cruz have all either been lockdown late inning options or absolute disasters. I regret to inform you this team is one of the most entertaining in the field.

Ethical Ball: 7/10

The Yankees are lacking a bit in the speed side for their starting lineups, but make up for it with Jose Caballero, Amed Rosario, and Jasson Dominguez on the bench. Fried and Rodon are as good of a 1-2 combo in the playoff field, with solid options behind them. The bullpen has been elite of late, but could fall apart quickly, knocking them down a couple more pegs.

Recent World Series: 3/10

Sure, New York hasn’t won it all since 2009, but they were in the World Series last season and their fans are so entitled to championships that I find it hard to award them anything higher than a 3. They’re postseason mainstays and that won’t be changing anytime soon.

Intangibles: 3/10

The Yankees simply love to employ Aroldis Chapman, acquiring him on two separate occasions and having him on the team for 7 seasons. Brian Cashman has his issues, but you never have to doubt his commitment to doing what it takes to win. They only employ a single former Guardian (Rosario), but their fans are simply the worst. Also, and most crucially, they are the New York Yankees. Tough look.

FINAL SCORE: 24/50

Boston Red Sox​

Twins Connections: 3/10

• Jorge Alcala: 7 seasons with Twins
• Jovani Moran: 4 seasons with Twins
• Liam Hendriks: 3 seasons with Twins
• Michael Fulmer/Rob Refsnyder/Jose De Leon: 1 season with Twins
• Nick Burdi: Former Twins prospect
• Craig Breslow (POBO): 3 seasons with Twins
• Justin Willard (Pitching development): Former Twins coach
• Jarren Duran: future Twin (probably)

Despite a relatively robust list of Twins connections, Boston’s group includes two players no longer in the organization (Alcala, Fulmer), two unlikely to be on the postseason roster (Moran, De Leon), one injured player who is out for the season (Hendriks), one who hasn’t yet played for the Twins (Duran), leaving only two people behind the scenes and a short-side platoon bat (Refsnyder). Burdi is not on the 40-man roster, but would still receive a ring since he pitched a few innings for the Sox early this season.

Entertainment: 5/10

The Red Sox have been decimated by injury and still snuck into the five seed thanks to collapses from Tigers, Twins, Orioles, Rays, and Rangers. What’s left isn’t all that pretty, but there’s still some potential for fireworks. The biggest loss is rookie phenom Roman Anthony, who compiled 2.7 fWAR with a 140 wRC+ in 71 games before an oblique injury shut him down. He could potentially return in mid-October, but the Red Sox will have a lot of work to do to get that far.

While the Red Sox may not have many better hitters than the Guardians, they get a slight pass for it not being the primary plan. Jarren Duran and Alex Bregman are fun, but everyone around them is a liability offensively. Masataka Yoshida and his 88 wRC+ is their regular cleanup batter, while players like Cedanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu, and Carlos Narvaez are valuable for their contributions elsewhere, not necessarily at the plate.

The pitching staff is similarly in disarray. If I may borrow a phrase from the Guardians’ section and still a Tweet that I can’t remember, Boston’s pitchers are Garrett Crochet, Aroldis Chapman, and a bunch of raccoons in a trench coat. Garrett Whitlock has some juice too, and Crochet is one of my favorite pitchers to watch, but there’s only so much they can do. A lack of lineup depth means their pitching needs to be elite to make a run, and I just don’t think they have quite enough at this point.

Ethical Ball: 4/10

A healthier roster would rate significantly higher, but missing the power from Triston Casas, Roman Anthony, and Marcelo Mayer leaves the lineup wanting. Their role players would be perfect with better hitters around them, but as it stands they are pressed into spots above their pay grade.

The exact same can be said for the pitching staff. Kutter Crawford, Hunter Dobbins, Tanner Houck, Richard Fitts, Jordan Hicks, and Liam Hendriks leave them a few arms short despite dominance from Crochet and Chapman.

Recent World Series: 2/10

The Red Sox won it all in 2018 for the second time in five seasons and the fourth time in the previous 14. While 2018 was a while ago at this point, Red Sox fans, and Boston sports fans in general, have been spoiled with titles over the past 20 years, with the Celtics, Patriots, and Bruins all winning multiple championships. The Dodgers are the only team in 2025’s playoff field that have won a World Series more recently.

Intangibles: 3/10

The Red Sox ownership group is one of a handful of billionaires trying their best to ruin professional sports. The Fenway Sports group is more interested in spending money on the Liverpool Football Club than the Red Sox, while trading away Mookie Betts, Rafael Devers, and others while claiming financial hardship as one of the biggest, most valuable sports franchises in the world. They’ve begun to reverse course the last couple seasons, acquiring and extending players like Anthony, Crochet, Bello, Rafaela, and Yoshida.

Unfortunately for them, one of the other players they signed to a big extension is Aroldis Chapman, earning them a double demerit both for signing him in the first place and then extending him. Also Jarren Duran simply loves yelling slurs at fans. Thankfully, the Red Sox are not the Yankees and get one of those points back for also being their main rival. They also get some credit for Fenway Park being very cool and playoff games at Fenway being an elite experience.

FINAL SCORE: 17/50 (we’re all surprised this is lower than the Yankees, honestly)

Detroit Tigers​

Twins Connections: 2/10

• Chris Paddack: 4 seasons with Twins
• Kenta Maeda: 4 seasons with Twins
• Manuel Margot/Dietrich Enns: 1 season with Twins
• Akil Baddoo/Sawyer Gipson-Long: Former Twins prospects

Everyone listed would get rings if the Tigers win it all, but Maeda was released months ago and Paddack didn’t make Detroit’s postseason roster after a terrible showing post-trade deadline. Margot had a forgettable year in Minnesota and Dietrich Enns played for the Ron Gardenhire Twins in 2016, and is now on the Orioles. Not a lot of Twins representation here.

Entertainment: 6/10

If Garrett Crochet isn’t the best pitcher in the AL, Tarik Skubal is. Skubal is a bonafide ace who puts on a show every time he takes the mound. A weak, yet exciting bullpen behind him will make for some good swings late in the game as long as the bats can keep up with the runs allowed in the late innings. Riley Greene, Spencer Torkelson, and Kerry Carpenter are capable of hitting a ball 500 feet every time they’re at the plate, while Javier Baez is going to do something entertaining in every game, for good or bad. Add in the fact that they’re trying to wash away their late season collapse to the hapless Guardians, and these guys make for some fun storylines, even if the players themselves are underwhelming.

Ethical Ball: 5/10

Offensively, these guys play some strong ethical ball. It’s dragged down a bit by one of their key defense/speed role players being the highly-paid Baez, but overall the lineup has a strong showing in every category with good balance. Pitching is where things fall off, as the rotation behind Skubal and the entire bullpen is incredibly suspect. Former #1 pick Casey Mize can be hit or miss and no one has known what to do with Jack Flaherty for about five years now. They’re walking on eggshells after Skubal.

Recent World Series: 7/10

The Detroit Tigers haven’t won a World Series since 1984 and have been among the worst in the league for the past decade, essentially since those peak Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlander, Victor Martinez squads. It would be fun to see the Tigers get a ring, but there are others more deserving.

Intangibles: 5/10

POBO Scott Harris aligns perfectly with the Pohlad view of spending on a baseball team. Their outright refusal to spend any significant resources on pitching put them in this exact spot, though they’re not as bad as Cleveland. They aren’t the Yankees, have never employed Aroldis Chapman, and only employ a single former Guardian (Paul Sewald) who was barely on the team. A good bounce back despite Harris’ best efforts.

FINAL SCORE: 25/50

---

The Seattle Mariners and the load-bearing Jorge Polanco come out on top with 39 out of a possible 50 points, narrowly edging out the Blue Jays, who may have had a stronger case if Jose Berrios was available. We’ll be back tomorrow with the NL version and to crown a champion of the Twins fan postseason guide!

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/minneso...-twins-fan-guide-to-the-postseason-al-edition

 

[Minnesota Twins]

My year at the ballpark(s): 2025

During the 2025 MLB season, I attended 29 live contests—all featuring YOUR Minnesota Twins (for better or for worse—heavy on the latter). Twenty-three at 1 Twins Way and six more at various away locales. One less than ‘24—perhaps understandable considering the post-July slump (only 3 attendances in August & 3 in September).

The tale-of-the-tape & highlights…

Overall Record​

13.5 wins, 15 losses. Why the 0.5? Well, on one occasion a game I was at got suspended due to rain and finished up the next day (in a MN victory!). So, pedantically I saw 13.5 wins.

Kyle Lohse Memorial Award​

(So named for the amount of times I saw him pitch at the Metrodome when I wanted Johan or Radke)

• Chris Paddack: 6 starts seen
• Bailey Ober & Joe Ryan: 5 starts
• SWR: 4 starts
• Zebby & Pablo: 3 starts
• David Festa: 2 starts
• 1 bullpen game

Dog Days of Summer​

Twice I Barked at the Park with my sisters’ golden retrievers and doodle. A great time was had by man and beast.

Thievery—and not the Byron Buxton variety​

In my second game of the season, I had the baseball glove I’ve been taking to games since 1999 stolen out from under my seat during a restroom run. After navigating the five stages of grief, this necessitated new leather.

Leavin’ on a Jet Plane​

I was fortunate enough to get to Seattle, Houston, & Colorado (where I ran into a few of our tribe—John Foley & Brandon Brooks) this summer. Three more check marks on the ballpark bucket list! The utterly improbable comeback against the Mariners was unreal!

Fun Foodstuffs​

From dogs to donuts to on-the-road fries, I ingested some fun ballpark cuisine in 2025.

At-Home Highlights​

• April 22: Byron Buxton’s game-saving, walk-off catch!
• May 10: Seven wins in a row!
• May 23: I see London, I see France hit a walk-off winner!
• June 7: Riding the Northstar Line for the final time—with my locomotive-obsessed 4-year old nephew.

• July 12: Seeing Byron Buxton’s cycle with the aunt who brought me to so many games at the Metrodome.
• July 28: The bell tolls for Jhoan Duran one final time.
• September 12: A wild comeback capped by Luke Keaschall.

It was—by almost no metric known to man—a good season for the Minnesota Twins. But I managed to squeeze as much fun out of it as I could. I hope you were able to do the same.

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/general/49217/mlb-minnesota-twins-zach-koenig-year-at-ballparks-2025

 

[Minnesota Twins]

The Twins Fan Guide to the Postseason: NL Edition

Welcome back to part two: the National League. Some stronger Twins connections and overall enjoyment from watching the team led to some higher scores this time around. As a reminder, here are the categories we are ranking teams with:

• Twins Connections: how connected are you to the Minnesota Twins? This includes former Twins players, prospects, coaches, or greater Minnesota ties. Additionally, are there any current Twins who would get rings if you win the World Series? The longer tenured your former Twins, the better your score.
• Entertainment: How fun is it to watch you play baseball? Style of play is a factor, but moreso do you have players and storylines that are fun to root for and players who have fun on the field? Think Harrison Bader. Ironically, a bad bullpen also plays up here because it keeps things interesting.
• Ethical Ball: This is the style-of-play and anti-Cleveland Guardians category, who I find both infuriating and unenjoyable to watch. We don’t want all homers or all dink-and-dunk singles, we want a power/speed mix, aces to carry you, and an elite bullpen with good stuff.
• Most Recent World Series: This is straightforward, how recently have you won a championship? I like some 2019 Nationals/2023 Diamondbacks out-of-nowhere deep postseason runs, sorry Dodgers.
• Intangibles: a catch-all category to award or dock points as I see fit. Is your owner ideologically aligned with the Pohlads? How many former Cleveland Guardians do you have on your roster? Do you now or have you ever employed Aroldis Chapman? Are you the Yankees? All these things will lower your score in the intangibles category.

Let’s get into it and crown a champion!

Milwaukee Brewers​

Twins Connections: 1/10

• Trevor Megill: 1 Season with Twins

Despite their geographical proximity, the Brewers have very few connections to the Twins. Megill pitched for the Twins in the 2022 season before being traded to Milwaukee where they instantly turned him into one of the best relievers in baseball, as they are wont to do.

Entertainment: 8/10

The Brewers are what the Guardians think they are. They have two bonafide stars in the middle of the lineup in William Contreras and Jackson Chourio, while Christian Yelich is a half step below them as he’s been playing through a slew of back injuries in his mid-30s. They’re complimented by 10-12 legitimate, above-average bats who all are good enough at certain skills to keep opposing teams off balance. Brice Turang does everything well, is an elite base stealer, and led their hitters in fWAR. Caleb Durbin, Joey Ortiz, Isaac Collins, and Sal Frelick are all high-end defenders with some juice, while complimentary/platoon bats Andrew Vaughn, Jake Bauers, and Rhys Hoskins can start or come off the bench and completely change a game.

Milwaukee’s pitching staff is led by perennial dark horse Cy Young contender Freddy Peralta and backed up by a contingent of electric young arms like Quinn Priester, Jacob Misiorowski, and Chad Patrick. The late season injury to Brandon Woodruff put a dent in their plans, but they are chock full of starters that can take over a game. Their bullpen is headlined by the electric Abner Uribe and his sinker he can pump up to 100 MPH and the aforementioned Megill. This staff is electric.

Ethical Ball: 9/10

The platonic ideal of ethical baseball. Elite speed, game changing power, an excellent mix of power and finesse in the pitching staff. The only thing docking them a point is their starters behind Peralta and Priester. Misiorowski, Patrick, and even wily veteran Jose Quintana have gone through stretches where they’ve looked like a competent third playoff starter, but none of them have been able to perform consistently. The Brewers are being coy about Woodruff’s availability for the playoffs, but a strained lat coming off of major shoulder surgery that kept him out for 18 months make his return unlikely.

Recent World Series: 10/10

The Brewers have never won a World Series or an NL pennant. Like the Mariners in the AL, this is an easy 10.

Intangibles: 7/10

Milwaukee once again comes up clutch when they need it most. While the Brewers have been viewed as an ideal for building a contender on a budget, they’ve made investments in spots they’ve needed to and are excellent at self-scouting and shoring up holes. This is the best version of what the Twins want to be, though it would still be nice if they could get their payroll closer to the top half of the league. I will give them the benefit of the doubt since they are a little ahead of schedule this season and have shown a willingness to spend in the past.

Critically, the Brewers are not the Yankees, only employ a single former Guardian (Bauers), and have never had Aroldis Chapman on their team. Let’s split the difference and call it a solid 7.

FINAL SCORE: 35/50

Philadelphia Phillies​

Twins Connections: 10/10

• Jhoan Duran: 4 seasons with Twins
• Max Kepler: 10 seasons with Twins
• Harrison Bader: 1 season with Twins
• Twins Rings: Mick Abel, Kody Clemens
• Matt Strahm is from Fargo, ND

While there isn’t a lot of quantity here, the quality is unmatched. Kepler spent 15 years in the Twins’ system and 10 years in a Twins jersey. Duran is probably the most electric reliever in Twins history and probably a top five reliever even in just 3.5 seasons. Bader was with us for a short, but fun stretch. And Strahm is sneakily one of the best athletes to come out of Twins Territory in a while. Add in the fact that Clemens and Abel would get rings, and there’s a lot of Minnesota athletes I’m personally invested in seeing succeed.

Entertainment: 9/10

Even in his 30s, Bryce Harper is good for a fun quote every time he has a mic in front of him. They lost Zach Wheeler, currently in the “best pitcher in baseball” conversation, but still have an exciting staff of electric lefties (Jesus Luzardo, Ranger Suarez, Cristopher Sanchez) and solid veterans (Aaron Nola, Taijuan Walker). Their bullpen behind Duran, Strahm, and Orion Kettering is suspect, but they have the starters that means they won’t have to get into the ‘pen all that often. The lineup is great 1-9 and these guys simply like playing together. They’re fun to watch!

Ethical Ball: 8/10

With a caveat that I haven’t watched much of the Phillies this season, these guys are very solid ethically. The loss of Wheeler hurts on the ace front, but the acquisition of Duran shored up their biggest real world and satirical ethical weakness. Power from Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Alec Bohm, and Nick Castellanos mixed with the speed and defense of Trea Turner, Bader, JT Realmuto, Kepler, and others makes for ideal baseball ethics. With a strong bench, the Phillies legitimately go 12 deep here and can mix and match as needed.

Recent World Series: 6/10

The Phillies haven’t won it all since 2008 but have been a regular in postseason in the near 20 seasons since. They made a surprise NL Pennant run in 2022 and have infamously choked in wide open NL’s of the past when teams like the Dodgers were eliminated early. Time to redeem themselves and push it all in for 2025!

Intangibles: 10/10

The Phillies spend money on a competitive roster, have an owner who has openly said he’s okay losing money on the team in an effort to be a better steward in their community, and have a good mix of homegrown players and external acquisitions. POBO Dave Dombrowski’s self scouting is elite, allowing him to shore up the roster when needed. Meanwhile, they have never employed Aroldis Chapman, are not the Yankees, and have 0 former Guardians on the roster. The platonic intangible ideal.

FINAL SCORE: 43/50

Los Angeles Dodgers​

Twins Connections: 2/10

• Eddie Rosario: 6 seasons with Twins
• Brock Stewart: 3 seasons with Twins
• Ben Rortvedt: 1 season with Twins
• Brusdar Graterol: 1 season with Twins
• Twins Rings: James Outman, Noah Davis

Rosario and Stewart are a strong base, but Rosario played 3 games with the team while Shohei Ohtani was on parental leave, making him arguably the funniest replacement player all season. Stewart pitched 4 games for the Dodgers and then got yet another season ending shoulder surgery. Ben Rortvedt is only on the roster because Will Smith is hurt. Brusdar Graterol has been out all season. The ties are weak and James Outman is bad.

Entertainment: 10/10

I hate to admit it as much as the next guy, but one of the positives of the Dodgers acquiring everybody is they tend to be very entertaining. Ohtani is, in my opinion, the greatest baseball player of all time. He’s about to win his third straight MVP (and fourth overall and fifth straight top two finish), is the greatest hitter alive, and did it while putting up Cy Young-caliber pitching numbers in 14 starts since returning from his second Tommy John surgery.

Then there’s the rest of the team. They are stacked with aces and first-ballot Hall of Fame pitching out of the bullpen in his final season. The bullpen, frankly, is awful which will keep lesser teams in it longer than they should be. Mookie Betts had his worst season as a pro, which should make his postseason heroics all the more entertaining. Max Muncy put on glasses and became a top five hitter once again. Insane, wildly entertaining stuff happening in Los Angeles.

Ethical Ball: 5/10

The Dodgers may be fun, but the bullpen liability takes a huge bite out of their ethics score. And while the Dodgers have power and hits in spades, their aging roster and Ohtani’s unwillingness to run since returning to the mound make the lineup rather boring. The only player under 30 starting for LA is 24-year-old Andy Pages, who had a terrible second half after being an All-Star.

Recent World Series: 1/10

I don’t award zeroes in this exercise otherwise that’s where the Dodgers would be. They won it all last season for the second time in five years and have spent to the point where it’s shocking when they don’t at least make it the World Series. Sorry, Dodgers.

Intangibles: 5/10

Now, by the criteria previously laid out, the Dodgers should theoretically rank much higher. They’ve never employed Aroldis Chapman, are not the Yankees, somehow employ 0 former Guardians despite their roster churn, and have an ownership group who are the antithesis to the Pohlads. However, the 2020s Los Angeles Dodgers are the spiritual successors to the 2000s Yankees with their roster chock full of aging superstars. And while they get a pass on the Chapman thing, they have repeatedly demonstrated they will sign players who are among the worst guys in the league (Trevor Bauer, Julio Urias), meaning they would absolutely employ Chapman if they could. Wins over everything, I guess.

FINAL SCORE: 23/50

Chicago Cubs​

Twins Connections: 8/10

• Caleb Thielbar: 8 seasons with Twins
• Ryan Pressly: 6 seasons with Twins
• Taylor Rogers: 6 seasons with Twins
• Willi Castro: 3 seasons with Twins
• Carlos Santana/Michael Fulmer: 1 season with Twins
• Michael Busch from Minnesota
• Twins Rings: Genesis Cabrera, Brooks Kriske

The Cubs get credit for quantity over quality here. Thielbar has sneakily been one of the best relievers in baseball, regaining his 2021-2023 form with the Cubs. He gets bonus credit for being a born Minnesotan as well. Rogers and Pressly were longtime staples at the back of the ‘pen for some bad Twins teams and are on the tail ends of their careers, though Pressly is no longer with the team. Meanwhile, Castro has been bad in his sparing usage in Chicago while Santana was left off the postseason roster entirely. Kriske just opted for free agency and Cabrera will likely be non-tendered within a few weeks. A load-bearing Thielbar is holding things strong.

Entertainment: 5/10

The Cubs were fun in the first half when Kyle Tucker and Pete Crow-Armstrong were playing like MVP candidates. Both have fallen hard in the second half, which frankly just makes me sad. Breakouts from Michael Busch and Seiya Suzuki have provided a bit more of a spark, but the rest of the lineup is good enough to win, but boring enough to make for a mediocre night at the ballpark.

Much like the lineup, the pitching staff is good, if uninspiring. Cade Horton was sneakily one of the best pitchers in MLB in the second half, while wily lefties Matt Boyd and Shota Imanaga both had solid seasons. The bullpen is a rotating cast allowing them win match ups, but leaves a lot to be desired on the entertainment front. The Cubs get points for winning, but lose some for being boring while they do it. Let’s split it right down the middle.

Ethical Ball: 7/10

The fall offs from Tucker and PCA take this down a bit with the lineup becoming somewhat unbalanced. That being said, Tucker, Happ, Busch, and Suzuki bring plenty of power on their own while Nico Hoerner, diminished PCA, Carson Kelly, and Dansby Swanson lock down the defense up the middle and bring plenty of speed and small-ball in their own right. They take a hit on pitching due to their mix-and-match unreliability, but still come out solid overall.

Recent World Series: 4/10

Since winning it all in 2016 and breaking one of the longest championship droughts in professional sports, there is no way to describe this team other than uninspiring. The only player left from that era is Ian Happ, who is a perfectly acceptable, boring player. There’s been little postseason success since then, but that’s on execs Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer for not investing in a team’s championship window.

Intangibles: 4/10

Let’s venture into the very safe and uncontroversial world of politics to briefly (BRIEFLY) talk about rookie third baseman Matt Shaw. Shaw was mediocre, at best, and uninspiring in his first MLB season, but that’s not why I’m writing about him. Shaw missed a couple games earlier this month to attend the funeral of Charlie Kirk. If you’ve read me before, you should clearly understand that I didn’t agree with Kirk in any way, shape, or form and found nearly all of his platform to be disingenuous hate speech disguised as intellectual talking points. To be clear, I do not think Kirk deserved to die for that. To be even clearer, Matt Shaw should not have been allowed to miss any games, let alone ones in the midst of a playoff race, to attend the funeral of a person who he saw on YouTube and met a few times during Spring Training. This was an organizational failure from everyone involved on the Cubs. Okay, back to fun baseball now!

Outside of that debacle, the Cubs also don’t speed nearly as much on their roster proportional to their market size and cultural impact. Jed Hoyer seemingly likes to cosplay as a small market GM while having the financial resources to compete with the Dodgers or Yankees if he chose to. Aroldis Chapman, of course, was instrumental to their 2016 World Series run and they only employ two former Guardians. Let’s balance this one at a four and move on.

FINAL SCORE: 28/50

San Diego Padres​

Twins Connections: 1/10

• Luis Arraez: 4 seasons with Twins

Oops, all Arraez! The three-time batting champ is the only connection Twins fans have to the Padres at this point. Arraez can be fun when things are working, but the defensively-challenged infielder has had a rough season, putting up just 0.9 fWAR in 154 games, with a wRC+ barely above league average. Never a power hitter, Arraez’s advanced metrics have taken a turn for the worst, putting up career lows in average exit velocity, ISO, batting average, OBP, hard hit rate, barrel rate, and WPA. Sure, he set a modern record by striking out in just 3.1% of his plate appearances, but there simply weren’t enough hits to justify his lack of power.

Entertainment: 7/10

Arraez and Jake Cronenworth are boring, but the core of Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado, and Jackson Merrill are as fun as they come. They also saw nice bounce back seasons from Xander Bogaerts and Gavin Sheets, while shoring things up by acquiring Ryan O’Hearn and Ramon Laureano at the trade deadline. Plus, Jose Iglesias is an international pop sensation!

They’ve been hit by the injury bug on the pitching side, but still have a solid top three in Nick Pivetta, Dylan Cease, and 39-year-old Yu Darvish. Their best starter, Michael King, will pitch out of the bullpen as he is still working back from a season of injuries. In the bullpen, they have four All-Stars and legitimate weapons with Mason Miller, Robert Suarez, Jason Adam, and Jeremiah Estrada. If the Fathers can piece together the first five innings, the back four are locked down.

Ethical Ball: 6/10

Tatis and Merrill are excellent and basically everything on the diamond, from small ball to power to stealing bases to defense. After that, there’s a bunch of one dimensional players like Arraez, Sheets, and O’Hearn and are severely lacking in the speed/base running department. Pitching wise, they are a starter short if King is unable to pitch five innings, though that electric, lock-down bullpen can make up for that.

Recent World Series: 10/10

They haven’t been around that long, but San Diego doesn’t have a championship or pennant to their name. They also recently got their football team stolen from them, so I think the city deserves to see the Padres bring it home.

Intangibles: 10/10

The Padres are perfect in the Chapman, Guardians, and Yankees departments, so let’s talk about ownership.

Former owner Peter Seidler made a concerted effort in his last few years at the helm to push the Padres to a championship, outbidding the likes of the Dodgers, Yankees, and Red Sox for the services of Machado, Bogaerts, Darvish, Cease, and Juan Soto, among others. Despite their financial restraints, the Padres have pushed hard to compete. Peter’s brother John has taken over since Peter’s passing and maintained a top five payroll despite their relative market size. This is exactly what I’m asking the Twins to do, if not beyond my expectations. You don’t need to spend all the time, but push your chips in while you have a championship window. Instead, the Twins cut their payroll by $40M when their window opened in 2023.

FINAL SCORE: 34/50

Cincinnati Reds​

Twins Connections: 2/10

• Taylor Rogers: 6 seasons with Twins
• Zack Littell: 3 seasons with Twins
• Emilio Pagan: 2 seasons with Twins
• Ian Gibaut: 1 season with Twins
• Spencer Steer, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Chase Petty: Former Twins prospects

The Twins recent penchant for trading with Cincinnati means they are littered with former Twins prospects. However, Rogers is now on the Cubs, Littell was a decline acquisition, Pagan had one infuriating and one decent season in Minnesota, Gibaut was forgettable (how many of you remember his time here?), and CES/Petty were left off the postseason roster. But hey, we always have Spencer Steer.

Entertainment: 4/10

While the Guardians stormed back to steal a playoff spot, the Reds fell ass-backwards into one thanks to the Mets’ incompetence. They went 40-40 over their last 80 games to sneak in thanks to a tiebreaker with New York, while their electric shortstop Elly De La Cruz had his worst season as a pro. The rest of the lineup is littered with guys who are good, but not great like Steer, TJ Friedl, Tyler Stephenson, Noelvi Marte, Gavin Lux, Austin Hayes. Meanwhile, their big trade deadline acquisition Ke’Bryan Hayes is simultaneously the best defender and worst hitter in baseball. Their pitching staff is fun, though! Hunter Greene and Andrew Abbot are a fun duo while being backed up by solid arms. Also, by the time this is being posted they’re already eliminated, which is not very entertaining.

Ethical Ball: 5/10

Let me describe this team in the exact same way their second half went. Perfectly average. They don’t do anything great. They don’t do anything terrible. Rather than being balanced with a mix of players who excel at certain aspects of the game, everyone here is completely average at everything, which makes for a perfectly average ethical viewing experience. A perfectly average 5 for you, Cincinnati.

Recent World Series: 8/10

The Reds last won a title and a pennant both in 1990. They had some competitive teams in the Johnny Cueto/Joey Votto days, but never were able to put it all together.

Intangibles: 6/10

I’ll give them this: the Reds have at least tried. They don’t always have the highest payrolls, but they’ve demonstrated a repeated willingness to push some extra cash in when the team is competitive. They only have two former Guardians, but unfortunately, Cincinnati is the originator of Aroldis Chapman. Another category, another average score for the Reds.

FINAL SCORE: 25/50 (a fittingly, perfectly average final score)

---

With an overwhelming final score of 44/50, congrats to the official Twinkie Town Fan Guide champions: The Philadelphia Phillies!! I’m very excited to be rooting for Duran, Kepler, and Bader again.

From now until the Phillies are eliminated, we are officially rebranded as Phillies Town (open to suggestions here). I’m very excited to be rooting for Duran, Kepler, and Bader again, as I’m sure you all are as well. As we always say here at Phillies Town: “Win, Phillies, win!”

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/minneso...-twins-fan-guide-to-the-postseason-nl-edition

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Monday Morning Minnesota: The “Smile Because It’s Over” Edition

The 2025 regular season has come to a close, with the Twins finishing with a 70-92 record. Prior to the start of the season, Fangraphs gave the Twins an expected win total of 84, with a 36% chance to win the division and a 55% chance to make the playoffs. It’s been downhill since that point, besides the 12-game win streak earlier this year. However, besides just poor baseball play, it’s also been a down year for the organization, as fan morale has tanked, and not just because of the product on the field. 2025 was the lowest season for attendance at Target Field and the lowest full-season attendance since 2000, as fans voiced their displeasure with the Pohlads with their wallets. One can only hope that the 2026 season comes with renewed optimism, but at this point, I’m just happy the season is over.

The Past Week on Twinkie Town:

• In case you forgot what happened this past weekend, our Game Recaps are available!
• With the new site change, we also now have The Feed, where you can add your discussions about the Twins!
• In case you like reliving the (horrid) past, Matt Monitto has our annual “Name Every Twin” quiz ready for you!
• Zach Koenig reminds us of the excitement (and the pain) of the 2015 Twins season.
• Ben Jones looks at MLB’s new rule for 2026 – the automated strikes and balls challenge system.

Elsewhere in Twins Territory:

• Reid Forgrave at the Star Tribune checks in on Joe Pohlad with the end of the 2025 season.
• Betsy Helfand at the Pioneer Press puts a bow on Byron Buxton’s season. ($)
• Theo Tollefson at Zone Coverage highlights the career year for prospect Aaron Sabato.

In the World of Baseball:

• The playoff picture for the American League: the Toronto Blue Jays and the Seattle Mariners earned byes to the ALDS, while two division matchups highlight the wild-card series. The Detroit Tigers try to avenge their free-fall from the top spot in the American League (I may or may not have accidentally cursed them) with a three-game series in Cleveland, while the Boston Red Sox, after trading their best player early in the season, head to the Bronx to face off against the Yankees, who actually ended up tying with the Blue Jays in terms of regular season record, but because of tiebreakers, were relegated to the first round.
• The playoff picture for the National League: The Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies have byes to the division series, while the NL West and NL Central duke it out in the wild-card round, with Cincinnati traveling to LA to face the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres heading to Wrigley for a series in Chicago against the Cubs. Cincy clinched the final wild-card spot on Sunday with the New York Mets completing their own free fall from the best record in baseball two-ish months into the season to an early Cancun trip in October.
• Money doesn’t buy championships, but it sure helps you get a shot! Andy McCullough at The Athletic looks at how payroll defines the 2025 playoff teams. ($)
• Jorge Castillo at ESPN looks at the Mets’ collapse from World Series contender to fourth in the three-team wild card race.
• The San Francisco Giants have fired manager Bob Melvin in the first of many offseason moves for the MLB.

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/general...-minnesota-the-smile-because-its-over-edition

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Was 2025 the worst Twins season in recent memory?

Earlier this week, I did a little make-do with the 2025 Minnesota Twins season—recalling my ballpark exploits regardless of wins and losses. Baseball is a unique sport that way.

But let’s not kid ourselves—other than simply loving the game and sharing it with family/friends, 2025 was a disaster for the Twins organization. We all know the reasons why—we’ve been talking about them all season long. So, let’s compare notes on a few other dismal campaigns from 2010+ and see which was worse for us fans.

2011: 63-99​

• The utter disbelief of a complete August/September collapse after a decade of cromulence.

2016: 59-103​

• Total. System. Failure.

2018: 78-84​

• By the end of ‘18, Molitor managed to right the ship a bit. But a 35-44 start—after 2017’s playoff appearance—ultimately doomed the repeat attempt.

2021: 73-89​

• The Matt Shoemaker & Alex Colome season. Enough said.

2025: 70-92​

• The Pohlads—the Great Sell-Off—the late-season apathy. Yeesh.

What say you on the matter? Which one of these recent wretched seasons was the worst…

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/minneso...orst-season-recently-2011-2016-2018-2021-2025

 

[Minnesota Twins]

Season to forget, players to remember: name every 2025 Twin (quiz)

This is the first year we get to see how Sporcle embeds in WordPress, which is one of the few exciting takeaways from the 2025 Minnesota Twins season.

After a flat start, freefall, and fire sale, the Twins have ended the year with a 70-92 record. But those 70 wins (and yes, the 92 losses as well) came from a group of 57 players, from franchise mainstays to veteran cups of coffee to rookies getting their first taste of MLB action. They had plenty of talent (and too many guys who were not suited for major league play), but while some of their talented players shined, others fizzled, flopped, or flamed. Fudge.

As is yearly tradition, it now comes time for you to try to name those 57 players in a Sporcle quiz. You can play it on that site, or you can play it embedded below.

But first, a reminder as to rules of the quiz:

• Players are listed at the position where they played the most games. The number of games is their season total, not exclusively at that position.
• Last names are accepted.
• For players with diacritical marks in their name, the quiz will accept their names with or without the diacriticals.

That’s all I’ve got for you. Have fun!

Source: https://www.twinkietown.com/general...ber-name-every-2025-twins-player-sporcle-quiz