The Twins had a winning August—14 victories, 13 defeats. It was their first month with more wins than losses. Perhaps that's just a blip along the way of a mediocre team's long walk through a long season. Still, it's worth mentioning that their best month followed immediately upon having traded their best hitter (Cruz) and their best pitcher (Berrios) for players whose value is almost entirely prospective. Moreover, their schedule in August was their most difficult so far, and not just by a little: they had series against the Astros, the White Sox, the Rays, the Yankees, and the Red Sox. The highlight of the month, maybe of the season so far, came when, from the 5th through the 15th, they had consecutive series against the Astros, the White Sox, and the Rays, the three division-leading teams in the American League. A Twins fan looking ahead, in late July, to that stretch of games might have predicted the final implosion. Instead, they won 3 out of 4 in Houston, then returned home to win 2 out of 3 from both the Sox and the Rays.
Alas and alack, their next road trip was to New York and Boston, where the results were more in line with expectations. But they were competitive, and since they were relying on younger and unproven players, especially among the starting pitchers, this suggests they could be competitive in the future, too.
Or not. If you look behind the wins and losses, you see, for example, that the Twins were outscored in the month by 29 runs in the 27 games. I said they were "competitive." Someone else might say they were "mediocre." In the White Sox series, they lost 11-1 before winning 5-4 and 1-0. Winning close games (which they did) is a good sign. Getting pelted (which they also did) is a bad sign. Their success in close games may be attributed in part to effective relief pitching, but through July 31 they were giving up 5.3 runs per game, worst in baseball except for the woeful Baltimore Orioles, and in August they allowed . . . 5.3 runs per game. Starting pitching is by far the biggest question going forward. In that 1-0 victory over the White Sox, the Twins tied a major league record for most pitchers participating in a shutout (4), which seems more like a symptom than stray accident.
If you follow the team, but your memory only goes back a couple of games, you probably think all this is crazy, because in those two games they gave up a total of 6 runs and lost them both. This was against the Cubs, who in their previous three games had allowed 30 runs. (One was a shutout win; in two losses they allowed 17 runs and then 13 more.) You never know what will happen! Who will play shortstop for the Twins next year? What is Luis Arraez's best (or least bad) position? Can Byron Buxton stay in the lineup? If so, can he play all year like he played this April? And who can get guys out at the start of the game, like 16 or 18 of them?
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