As the Minnesota Twins rattled off 13 straight wins in May, rising from fourth to second place in the Central and closing the gap behind the Tigers to four games, there was a lot of cause for positivity and excitement. The roster was relatively healthy, and Minnesota had a formula for overcoming opponents — driven by elite pitching — that felt pretty infallible. As long as they could stay healthy.

Ahhh, well. We’ve been on this ride long enough to know what was coming next, but it was fun to dream. The Twins improved to a season-high seven games above .500, at 34-27, after beating the Athletics on June 4th. Around that time, things began to customarily fall apart. 

Pablo López went down with a devastating shoulder injury that will knock him out of action until the late stretch of the season. Days later, Zebby Matthews was sidelined by his own fairly significant shoulder strain. Two of the rotation’s most electric arms, gone in a blink.

More recently, the Twins lost Royce Lewis to yet another hamstring injury, and the timing stung because Royce was finally showing signs of life at the plate with a .990 OPS in June. There’s no timeline for his return but it feels safe to assume he’ll miss at least a month.

Beyond the injuries, remaining key players are letting this team down in a big way. Bailey Ober, ostensibly healthy, has lost his dominant edge and finds himself searching for answers. Chris Paddack got shelled in his most recent start. And most disturbingly, Carlos Correa is showing the worst offensive form of his entire career at age 30. 

 

The team faces very tough sledding ahead. Their schedule for the rest of June is challenging: four series, all against winning teams, including the division-leading Tigers to close out the month. The Twins have lost eight of 10 and they’re entering this midseason gauntlet without several of their highest-impact players. If we’re being realistic, it’s hard to envision the team having much success in the weeks leading up the All-Star break. 

But for now, the goal is not resounding success — merely to tread water. Minnesota needs to stay afloat and remain relevant until the second half gets underway, because there is palpable reason for hope of major improvement on the horizon. 

None of the aforementioned injuries are believed to be season-ending. Lewis’s hamstring strain was deemed mild and he could return around the All-Star break if not sooner. The Twins have said they expect López to pitch “meaningful innings” in the regular season, setting himself up to once again be a potential postseason force. The timeline for Matthews is a bit more ambiguous but even on the longer end, he should be back with plenty of time left. There’s also a guy by the name of Luke Keaschall — remember him? — who should be back from a forearm fracture sometime around the break next month.

Get these guys back into the mix and you’re in business. The Twins didn’t win 13 in a row by accident. Certainly some of the trends we’ve been seeing with currently healthy (or “healthy”) players are troubling, but slumps come and go in a long MLB season. There’s nothing to say Ober and Correa won’t look like different players in a month or two.

None of this takes away from the fact that the Twins are currently in a bad spot. They’ve been sinking and in all honesty they are probably about to sink further. They’re going to need to find the wins where they can and weather the storm while waiting for brighter days ahead in the second half. Still, as long as this Twins team can avoid getting flooded out of contention in a densely packed middle tier in the American League, it’ll be hard to lose faith in their ultimate outlook.

Just hang on for now boys.