WTF is Happening to the Minnesota Twins?
While Minnesota sports fans have been distracted by anything and everything else happening in April — Vikings Draft, Wolves Playoffs, Wild Playoffs — it was a horrible time for the Minnesota Twins to get off to one of the worst regular season starts in franchise history.
On Sunday, April 20… the Twins hit rock bottom at 7-15, eight games below .500. It was then, after being swept by a bad Braves team in Atlanta that weekend, when fans really started to brace themselves for an entire summer of MN Twins apathy, turning focus to everything else going on around Target Field, instead of the depression taking place inside.
Something is happening with the Minnesota Twins…
But over the past week and a half, while fans and media were looking the other way, the Twins have quietly been playing better… and winning more games. After their blowout 11-1 victory in Cleveland over the division rival Guardians on Monday, Carlos Correa, Byron Buxton and the boys have won four straight and six of their last seven.
The @Twins have won 6 of their last 7 games. pic.twitter.com/GGZWFt7b6v
— MLB (@MLB) April 29, 2025
Entering game two of their series vs the Guardians on Tuesday, the Minnesota Twins have pushed their regular season record to 13-16, just three games back of that beautiful reset button. For slow-starting Major League Baseball teams, that’s what the .500 mark becomes. Just get back to even. Then, win more games than you lose.
And how do they do that? Simple, the same way they’ve been winning recently. By hitting and pitching much better than they did for the first 22 games of the season. That’s right… if your offense gets on base and scores runs, while your pitching/defense stops the opponent from doing the same, you win.
Good hitting + Great pitching = Winning
During this 6-1 stretch the Twins are on, they’re scoring 6 runs per game, fueled by 41 RBI, 7 HR, a .304 team BA and .868 team OPS. Meanwhile, Minnesota pitchers are allowing just 2 runs per game, with a 2.07 ERA and .205 BA against. But their improved play goes beyond this impressive short run of wins.
Byron Buxton, whose 22 runs scored are second-most in the AL behind Aaron Judge, now leads the #MNTwins with 17 RBIs.pic.twitter.com/LfOfaC0ngJ
— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) April 28, 2025
Bailey Ober's season:
— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) April 29, 2025
First start: 8 runs allowed in 2.2 innings
Next five starts: 7 runs allowed in 30 innings
Helluva way to have a 4.13 ERA after six starts.
It’s starting to look more and more like their sweep a couple weeks ago, at the hands of the Braves, was more of an anomaly. Prior to their wheels falling off in that series, the Minnesota Twins had won three of four, including two of three vs the loaded New York Mets.
So while this recent stretch of winning has been against bottom-dwelling teams like the Angels and White Sox, there are legitimate signs that it’ll continue vs better competition to come.
Related: Minnesota Twins Re-Sign Oft-Injured (but Extremely Promising) Prospect
In fact, dating back to April 13, the Twins have a 9-5 record, fueled by a .266 (.768 OPS) offensively, plus a 3.02 team ERA and .228 batting average against. A closer look at the numbers show a much bigger issue with Minnesota Twins hitting, earlier in the season, compared to their pitching. Still, both have improved in the past couple weeks.
| Dates | G | Record | Runs /Gm | HR | RBI | H | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | ERA | Runs vs/Gm | BAA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3/27-4/12 | 15 | 4-11 | 3.3 | 10 | 48 | 101 | .204 | .277 | .323 | .600 | 4.05 | 4.5 | .235 |
| 4/13-4/28 | 14 | 9-5 | 4.8 | 13 | 64 | 122 | .266 | .345 | .423 | .768 | 3.02 | 3.0 | .228 |
Individually, everyone is playing better, but this recent stretch of wins have been powered by star production in the batting lineup. The Twins bullpen and starting rotation has struggled, at times, but as you can see above, the problem earlier this season was on offense. But simultaneously, on April 15, both Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa started hitting the crap out of the ball.
Who knew? The MN Twins can hit…
Since that date, Correa — who’s now using a Torpedo Bat — is batting .325 with a .799 OPS, only to be outdone by Buxton’s .326 batting average and .957 OPS, during that same stretch. While the Minnesota Twins stars may be leading this recent offensive charge, those behind them are falling in line beautifully.
Brooks Lee is hitting .381 with a .863 OPS since April 22. Before he broke his forearm, top prospect call up Luke Keaschall hit .368 with a 1.065 OPS. He was replaced by Jonah Bride, who’s batting an absurd .500 (1.033 OPS) in his first six games as a Twin. Oh, and Royce Lewis could return to the lineup any day…
Jonah Bride is hitting .583 as a Minnesota Twin pic.twitter.com/0tnpIxNLKR
— Fish On First (@FishOnFirst) April 29, 2025
If the MN Twins can get back to that .500 tipping point, they will start to see Target Field fill back up. I know it’s a novel concept for the Pohlads, but if you win baseball games, fans will tune in. It’s really that simple. We’ll see if their winning ways can continue on Tuesday in Cleveland.
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