It’s been over two months since the Minnesota Twins had Carlos Correa, Byron Buxton, and Royce Lewis in the same lineup. However, the wait was over on Saturday night, and their three best hitters were back in action again.
Unfortunately, all three of Minnesota’s hitters were out of the game by the bottom of the sixth. The team was down 10-1 to the Cincinnati Reds, which turned into an 11-1 blowout loss. The next day, the Twins kept Correa and Buxton out of the lineup. Both players have said they’re not 100% healthy as they return to the team.
The same was true for Buxton and Correa this time a year ago. Buxton battled knee pain as the Twins closed down the stretch, and Correa dealt with plantar fasciitis in his left foot, not his right. Their production was limited then, as it will be now as the Twins fight to keep their postseason chances alive.
However, the Twins had a more direct path to the playoffs last year. They were the only team in the AL Central to finish with a record above .500. This year, it’s a different story. The Kansas City Royals have gone from losing 106 games to 68, and the Cleveland Guardians have solidified their spot in first place since May.
The Twins were 70-53 on Aug. 17 but are holding onto a two- to three-game lead in the AL Wild Card race entering the last two weeks of the season. They’ve gone 6-7 in September. Meanwhile, the Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners have won seven of their last 10 games and threaten to take Minnesota’s playoff spot. The Twins are tied for 2.5 games back for the final wild-card spot.
Minnesota’s road trip will make or break their playoff chances. They head to Cleveland for four games before facing the Boston Red Sox, who are 4.5 games behind them in the wild-card standings. Minnesota’s hope of comfortably making the playoffs is gone. However, the good news is they have Buxton and Correa back to help as these pivotal two series of the year approaches.
Since the Twins activated him from the IL on Friday, Buxton was Minnesota’s best contributor at the plate in their two losses to Cincinnati. He went 2-for-6 with a homer on Friday and produced Minnesota’s only run on Saturday. His two games played also tied him for the second most games he’s played in a season at 92.
Last season, the Twins didn’t have Buxton down the stretch because his knee injury had him shut down from Aug. 2 until their final game in the postseason against Houston at home. There isn’t a sample size for him to compare to in a late-season postseason race since 2020, when he went off for the Twins from Sept. 7-24, hitting eight home runs, 13 RBI, with a .280/.308/.800, and 1.108 OPS in 14 games.
In Minnesota’s 13 remaining games, the focus from fans may be more on whether he can play in eight of those last 13 more than his production at the plate. But his production in the first two games puts him in a position to bring back some of the mojo he had four years ago.
On the other hand, Correa still played 15 games for the Twins last September before they shut him down for the last two weeks of the regular season. In those 15 games, he had a .296/.377/.463 triple slash, a .840 OPS, two home runs, and eight RBI. Correa’s production wasn’t as outstanding as Buxton’s in 2020. Still, it was consistent with how hard it was for him to play through the pain earlier in the season.
Like with Buxton, it’s hard to imagine a world where both players are in 10 or more of the final games these next two weeks. At best, they may only appear in half of them as they balance their playing time with time off the field to heal their pain. If both can play remotely close to how they were before the All-Star Break, the Twins have a good chance to fend off the Tigers and Mariners.
The Red Sox may still be in this race, depending on how Minnesota plays against the Guardians, the Tigers fare against the Royals on the road, and the Mariners fare against the New York Yankees at home. If the Twins can’t split the four-game series against Cleveland, Boston will have a chance to spoil Minnesota’s playoff hopes like they did in 1967 and surpass them in the Wild Card standings.
The Twins need Buxton, Correa, and all their best players on the field, even if most are not playing at 100%. If they can limp into the finish line, they can clean the slate when they face the Astros for the second time in their last three opening rounds of the playoffs.
