Rocco Baldelli picked up a marker in the Baltimore Orioles’ visiting clubhouse and wrote down a simple message for his players: “Let the season begin.”
The intent behind the message was clear. The Minnesota Twins were in the middle of a season where they had been unable to find any consistency. Despite having spent most of the year atop the AL Central, they had not been playing to their potential. Minnesota needed a reset. By saying that the season had not yet really “begun,” the team could start to focus only on what was ahead of them.
So far, changing their mindset has paid dividends. Baldelli elaborated on the idea of the team needing a reset by saying, “Teams reset themselves all the time. Sometimes guys are aware of it. Sometimes they’re not, and it just kinda happens. But I think that kinda thing, when you play 162 ballgames, you’re gonna need some different resets, both on a player level and on a team level.”
The Twins have won five of their last seven games since the reset, taking two out of three from the Orioles and sweeping the Kansas City Royals at home. Let’s take a closer look at what the Twins have done differently over their hot streak in the last six games.
Perhaps the biggest driver of this turnaround is that Minnesota’s offense has mostly woken up. In the last two series, the Twins have averaged 5.33 runs per game. Except for a pair of one-run outputs in Baltimore, one of which they won anyway, the Twins have won their games by scores of 8-1, 8-4, 9-3, and 5-0. Not only have they been winning, but Minnesota has also been winning comfortably. It’s a welcome sight for fans who have become accustomed to seeing them play in nail-biters this year.
Two key members of the Twins offense who haven’t hit like they’re supposed to all season, Max Kepler and Carlos Correa, have given the lineup a considerable boost over the past week. Kepler has been on fire over his last seven games, hitting .364 with two home runs and seven runs batted in.
Correa’s numbers are not quite as impressive, with only one run batted in and no homers. However, he’s still hitting .345 with a .406 on-base percentage. Correa also had one of his best showings at the plate this season last Monday against the Royals, tallying four hits in Minnesota’s series-opening victory. If Kepler and Correa can continue to produce at the rate they have been over the last week, it would give the Twins a meaningful lift during the second half.
Minnesota’s starting pitching staff has also continued to put together stellar performances during this recent stretch. All six starts by Twins pitchers during the last two series have been quality starts, including Pablo López’s complete-game shutout against the Royals. That came less than two weeks after Joe Ryan shut out the Boston Red Sox.
Before that, there had not been a complete game shutout by a Minnesota pitcher since José Berríos in 2018. The Twins have waited a long time for a rotation that can consistently go deep into games like this year’s. Now that the offense is finally giving them some run support, we have seen some of the more complete team performances of the season during the past week.
The Twins have had plenty of opportunities to pull away from their division opponents. Yet, they have spent much of the year hovering around the .500 mark. They have gone on hot streaks multiple times, only to cool off significantly and go back to square one the following week.
However, it feels like the Twins have meaningfully reset after the disastrous Atlanta Braves series. Time will tell if they can keep things rolling, but for now, the offensive numbers are where many fans thought they would be, and the starting pitchers have continued their impressive performances.
“Our starters have been just phenomenal,” said Baldelli, who feels that the team can build on this recent stretch. “So that’s one thing, and I think building upon the at-bats that we’ve had lately is gonna be very, very important. We’ve seen our players do a lot better job with two strikes and using the whole field.”
That’s a recipe for a winning ball club. If the Twins keep turning in complete showings, they may finally start to expand their division lead like so many have been waiting for them to do.
