Bracing for the Worst

  The last couple of weeks have been tough for the Twins. Their bullpen has started to come apart at the seams, their bats aren't coming through when they are needed, and in the last 10, the Twins are 4-6. What maybe hurts the most about all of this is that everyone in the American League seems to have hit a similar bump in the road. They are now 4.5 games away from having the best record in the American League.

Wait, hold on. Is that right? We are all worried about the team, and the Guardians, Orioles, Yankees and especially the Royals are all treading water or backsliding as well? The Twins have overtaken the Royals, and still, remarkably, are within 4.5 games of the league's best. But this isn't just a "vibes" issue, the leaving the Twins for dead, thing. I'm here to provide optimism, that there is more to come.

The top Twins trio of Byron Buxton, Carlos Correa and Royce Lewis have all been healthy at the same time on 17 occasions this season. Buxton is gong to be back and ramping up for the postseason soon - he i already playing in St. Paul. Correa played through plantar fasciitis last year, and didnt like what it did for his regular season numbers. After a pause to recuperate, he could also be back to pick up one of the best seasons of his career. Even at 80%, playoff Correa is a force to be reckoned with. And then there is Lewis. 

While ink is often spilled about the Twins pitching, both the starters and the bullpen and it has struggled lately, but since the 18th, when the recent struggles began, the Twins scored more than 5 runs only 4 times, and 3 or fewer runs 7 times. It's hard to win games if you aren't giving your pitchers routine run support. Theoretically, the veterans returning to the lineup should be a boost. 

The pitching is going to be very youthful. The best case scenario, which is reasonable, is that Joe Ryan can return and get some work in during the postseason. At this point, I think the Twins could look forward to a Pablo Lopez, Bailey Ober, Simeon Wood-Richardson postseason trio, with David Festa pitching in a longer series, with Joe Ryan working high leverage relief as he comes back from injury. Again, the concern isn't that the Twins rotation is bad. They are simply young and inexperienced in the postseason. 

Despite it all, the Twins are among the upper echelon of the American League this year. They aren't even functioning at full capacity right now, but may well be there by the post season. Still, given all of our collective history and the messaging around the team this year, Twins Territory is bracing for the worst in October.