Okay. Before I get pilloried in the comments section, a note: 2025 has been an incredibly disappointing season, with a second straight second-half collapse, a wildly underperforming lineup, a bad record, and calls for everyone to be fired — from the owners, to the front office, to the manager and coaching staff, to the players themselves. Many of the games haven’t been fun to watch. It’s been tough remaining engaged at times. Despite all that, there have been a handful of things worth celebrating throughout the 2025 season, and many of them hint at a brighter tomorrow. 

Byron Buxton’s Health and Production
Did you really thing I would start anywhere else? Nah. Buxton has had the season true believers always knew he was capable of. Not only has he stayed relatively healthy despite some injury scares, the games he has missed have been to normal baseball injuries — a concussion, bruised rib cartilage, soreness — rather than the sort of snakebit, multi-month soft tissue or knee issues that have cost him nearly half his playing career so far. On top of the healthy year, he crossed 100 games for the second straight season, and is having a career year offensively, even as his defense slips a bit with age. He still has a real chance at a 30-30 season, and a 30-25 season is all but a lock. The last time a member of the Twins put up even a 30-20 season was Kirby Puckett in 1986. That’s, um, good company. The best part? There’s no reason to think Buck can’t be counted on to be a star again next season.

Luke Keaschall Showed He Belongs
Luke Keaschall has taken a similar path as many other Twins top prospects — by which, I mean, he got almost immediately injured after being called up. Despite the broken forearm in within his first week in the bigs, Keaschall has done a little bit of everything: he’s popped a handful of homers, stolen a bunch of bases, shown the sort of grit and hustle that can jumpstart an offense and undoubtedly sets an example for his peers. In fact, Keaschall had one of the best offensive starts to his career in Twins history. With his short swing, he is capable of overcoming his limited power and lack of bat speed. His pitch selection and patience at the plate elevates his on base rate, and one can hope that being a full year removed from Tommy John surgery on his throwing arm will help him cement himself as the Twins everyday second baseman in 2026 and beyond.

The Twins Learned To Get Frisky
Dating back to the Bomba Squad, the Twins have embodied a slow, station-To-station, plodding style on the bases. That works well when you hit home runs in bunches, and less well when the power disappears. Luckily, since the trade deadline fire sale, the Twins have been running at will. Such speedsters as Matt Wallner, Trevor Larnach, and Royce Lewis have been stealing bases at an exciting and unexpected clip. Dating back to August 1, the Twins are second in baseball in bags swiped. Since September 1, they are first, and it’s not close. There’s no reason for this style of play to be discontinued after the season, particularly with James Outman, Alan Roden, and likely Austin Martin part of the 2026 plans.

 

Joe Ryan Elevated to Near-Ace Status
Joe Ryan, first-time All Star, was having a Cy Young type season until very recently. He didn’t had a real chance at the award itself, because, you know, Tarik Skubal and Garret Crochet exist in the same timeline, but he has still been incredible. Now, over the past few starts, he has suffered from an illness, and that has impacted his results significantly. But, looking at his season through August 15, he had a 2.72 ERA, was walking about one guy a game, was striking out nearly 10 per nine innings, and was even limiting the home runs that have plagued him throughout his career. If the Twins don’t trade him in the offseason, he remains a pitcher to front a quality rotation.

The Farm System Got Deeper
Were the moves at the deadline popular. Certainly not, and I think you would be hard-pressed to find many fans that would disagree. What they did, though, was deepen an already strong farm system. Adding Eduardo Tait and Enrique Jimenez bolstered the catching future. Mick Abel should be a legit major leaguer, brief Twins debut notwithstanding. Kendry Rojas has real potential as a lefty starter, and has a real chance to stick as a starter. Even Ryan Gallagher and Hendry Mendez, not quite lauded prospects, slot in among the Twins top-25, per MLB.com.

Depth Pieces Made Their Cases
Taj Bradley, former Rays top prospect, has frontline starter upside, with relief ace a fallback plan. He’s reading scouting reports for the first time in his career, and his heater is touching 99 now. With a little progress in pitch sequencing and mix, the future is bright. 

Austin Martin has been putting up roughly a .400 OBP while hitting nearly .300 over his 26 games so far this season. While the power may never develop at this stage of his game, a guy that can put up an OPS close to .800 with speed on the bases has a future, and at the league minimum. Similar to Outman, that has value and makes roster construction a bit easier next year.

So, that’s six bright spots in an otherwise gloomy season. Did I miss anything? And, are you more hopeful for 2026 after thinking about these things?

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