The Minnesota Twins started with a bang in Monday night’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. If we want to be specific, it was more of a blast.
Shohei Ohtani was on the mound for the Dodgers, and Byron Buxton was leading off the game. After fouling back the first pitch, Buxton launched a 410-foot home run that put the Twins on the board. Another hit later in the game raised his batter’s line to .292/.353/.583 with 23 homers, 58 RBI, with a perfect 17-for-17 in stolen base attempts.
In a lot of ways, Buxton’s resurgence should be a key storyline in Major League Baseball. Unfortunately, the Twins aren’t holding up their end of the bargain. After their 5-2 loss to the Dodgers, Minnesota inched closer to the reality of selling at the trade deadline.
Still, it doesn’t mean that Buxton’s season can’t become a source of optimism for Twins fans.
If Twins fans lived in a movie, they’d be Lloyd and Harry sitting in their apartment. That iconic duo had no jobs, no food, and their pets’ heads falling off. Meanwhile, Minnesota is living in the warped simulation of the 2025 season with no free-spending owner, few players living up to expectations, and their playoff hopes dissipating by the second.
But just like Harry and Lloyd had a poster of a swimsuit model on the wall, Twins fans have Byron Buxton.
Think back to the beginning of the year. If we were to tell you that Buxton would be playing at an All-Star level and on track to surge past 100 games, most Twins fans would take it. If we told you Buxton would be on pace to flirt with a 30-30 season, they’d be praying not to draw the New York Yankees in the playoffs.
In many ways, Buxton is having his best season as a professional. Injuries have ravaged the former top prospect, and many thought his career was coming to a close as he limped to the plate in Game 4 of the ALDS loss to the Houston Astros in 2023. Thoughts of Grady Sizemore, a player who flashed in his prime to the point his body couldn’t handle it, were common among Twins fans, and many were just sick of holding onto an unrealistic season.
However, Buxton’s 2025 season is not only real. It could be spectacular.
Only two players in Twins history have finished with Buxton’s batter’s line entering Tuesday while playing at least 100 games in a season. The first was Joe Mauer’s 2009 MVP season, during which he hit .365/.444/.587 with 28 home runs and 96 RBI over 138 games. The other was Nelson Cruz’s 2019 season, where he hit .311/.392/.639 with 41 homers and 108 RBI in 120 games.
While Buxton also has the chance to become the first player in Twins history to post a 30/30 season, he also has the opportunity to do something rare, even if he comes up short.
If Buxton plays in 50 of Minnesota’s final 62 games, he would be on pace for 37 home runs and 27 stolen bases. Only 21 players have reached those marks in a single season since the start of the divisional era in 1969, including Ohtani and Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez, who accomplished the feat last season.
Even more impressive? Five of the 33 such seasons resulted in a Most Valuable Player Award.
Of course, that would be ignoring the obvious. While Buxton has put up a season with baseball’s elite, the Twins are in the tank. Losing two of three games to the Colorado Rockies will depress any fan base, and Monday’s loss to the Dodgers felt like the Lamborghini in a trailer park meme.
It led some to call for the Twins to “sell high” on Buxton, even though he has a no-trade clause, and other teams are aware of his injury history. Still, it also means that we shouldn’t ignore Buxton’s season.
If Buxton can finish the year strong, it could open the door to a second act to his career. Relying solely on Buxton staying healthy is a dangerous idea, but it could provide the Twins some long-term hope when it appears they’re on the verge of a fire sale.
It could also give Twins fans something to hold onto for a franchise that has attempted to sever every tie with its fans as it continues to search for a new owner.
It’s unlikely that Buxton will save the season, but it’s an encouraging development that deserves some appreciation.
