The Twins have looked terrible recently, but...

[Brock Beauchamp]

The rest of August is going to make or break this team (I know, duh). Here are the WC standings as of this morning:

 

WC - Toronto +2

WC - Los Angeles +0

Baltimore -2

Tampa Bay -2.5

Minnesota -3

Texas -3.5

 

Toronto is going to pass the Yankees (currently .5 behind NY). It's almost inevitable at this point. The Twins' remaining schedule in August is:

 

Rangers - 2 games

Indians - 3 games

@Yankees - 3 games

@Orioles - 4 games

@Rays - 3 games

Astros - 3 games

 

For all intents and purposes, that is every WC team in front of the Twins excluding the Angels but the Twins get to play the Astros, who could easily switch places with the Angels by that point (just one game ahead of LAA this morning).

 

A brutal stretch of games, yes. The Twins have been playing horrible baseball, yes.

 

But this season isn't over quite yet. It's pretty rare for an August schedule to line up quite that cleanly for a team. The Twins potentially get to play every Wild Card team surrounding them over a three week stretch of play.

[Halsey Hall]

If the Twins could go .500 in those 18 games they'd probably pick up 1.5 games and have a dash to the finish in Sept.  It's highly unlikely they can split those games though the way they are playing. 

[nicksaviking]

I am in no way trying to be negative, but I already stopped watching the standings.  I tune in to see how Sano, Rosario and Hicks are doing. I'd be equally as interested in watching how Polanco, Buxton, Arcia, Vargas, Kepler or Pinto do should they find themselves on the roster.  I would have even more interest if Berrios and May found themselves in the rotation.

 

A return to contention would be nice though.

[dougkoebernick]

What's with the attitude that the season isn't over it - haven't you read all of the posts on Twins Daily? The Twins suck. Terry Ryan sucks. Torii Hunter sucks. Kurt Suzuki sucks. Pelf sucks. Mauer sucks. Nolasco is dead to us. Gardy still sucks. I would suggest that you read the posts and rethink your position. You should also take another look at those standings because from everything I've read on here I think the Twins are actually 33 games out of the wildcard. 

 

With all that said, this is baseball. You never know what is going to happen. Remember Shannon Stewart and Orlando Cabrera? Jose Berrios might provide a spark. Who knows? I don't. But I will still watch the Twins and cheer for them and hope that they find a spark and get back on track and don't go down the tank like the past few years.

 

Go Twins!

[Brock Beauchamp]

I haven't paid much attention to the standings recently either but after looking at the upcoming teams this morning, I found it interesting just how much the Twins could gain/lose in a three week stretch of play.

[halfchest]

What's so frustrating is that first stretch after the break they had a few very close games that if they go the other way we're sitting 1 game back.   The same could be said the other way around though if they had lost 1 or 2 close games we 'd be sitting 4-5 back. 

 

I don't like their chances they way they've played but it at least validates the Twins not making a big win now move like going for a Cueto etc.  The one move I'd still be interested in is either another cheap bullpen upgrade and some swap of Nolasco + prospect(s) for Shields. 

[Otto von Ballpark]

What's so frustrating is that first stretch after the break they had a few very close games that if they go the other way we're sitting 1 game back. The same could be said the other way around though if they had lost 1 or 2 close games we 'd be sitting 4-5 back.

 

 

Yup. Twins last 3 wins have all been comebacks with the winning run plated in the 9th inning. With all the blowouts and noncompetitive losses, I'd say our "luck" in close games has been neutral the past month or so.