Fansided

What’s wrong with the Minnesota Twins?

By Baasil Ebrahim

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 26: Joe Mauer #7 of the Minnesota Twins stands at first base during the game against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Thursday, April 26, 2018 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 26: Joe Mauer #7 of the Minnesota Twins stands at first base during the game against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Thursday, April 26, 2018 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

In the season after Paul Molitor won the AL Manager of the Year award, the Twins were expected to thrive in a weak AL Central … it hasn’t happened.

Last year, the Twins season ended with a loss in the Wild Card game to the New York Yankees. However, with the Royals losing Eric Hosmer to the Padres, Tigers rebuilding, and White Sox on the verge of turning the corner, they were expected to cruise to second place in the division.

A little of a month into the season, and it is not clicking for the Twins yet. Byron Buxton, who was supposed to break out this year, is hitting just .195. He’s just part of the bigger problem, the Twins have the third fewest runs scored in baseball, just beating the lowly Orioles and Marlins. They also have the second-worst ERA in baseball, despite bringing in Lance Lynn and Jake Odorizzi this offseason.

The biggest thing to notice about the team so far is that they aren’t getting hits when they need them. They have the 24th best OPS in high leverage situations. Then, they need to start playing better defense. The Twins have the third worst defensive WAR which doesn’t help their pitchers at all.

So they aren’t hitting and aren’t pitching —  what are the positives? The biggest positive is that the AL Central is awful. It is a desolate place right now, a place where the entire division has a negative run differential. This means the Twins are just 4.5 games back in the division.

How can they turn it around? Naturally, the first step is to start getting hits in high leverage situations. These should put them in better positions to score more runs and win more games. After that, they need to begin to win games that they are supposed to win. They’ve already played 12 games against the talented AL East, going 2-10 in those games. In their division, they’ve only played 3 games, so having more games against these weaker opponents will help as well.

Next: Ranking the 10 best ballparks in Major League Baseball

The Twins can turn it around and still make the playoffs, but they need to get out of this 1-9 stretch and start winning some ballgames.

Home/Minnesota Twins