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Watching events unfold on Monday and Tuesday night at Progressive Field was no doubt a painful experience for Guardians fans. The Twins obliterated Cleveland by a combined score of 28-9, sealing up the division in uncontested fashion as the hapless home team endured one of the most embarrassing high-stakes beatdowns I've ever seen.
But that's only the start of it.
On Tuesday night, the Twins effectively sewed up their third division title in five years. Based on the landscape of the American League Central, there are likely going to be more on the way.
For Guards fans, getting shoved all over their home yard in the biggest series of the year was bad enough. But worse yet, these blowouts were being driven by emerging young stars, set to power the Twins offense for years to come.
Royce Lewis, Edouard Julien and Matt Wallner have been leading the charge for a revitalized Minnesota offense, which obviously bodes very well for the future.
On the same day, Brooks Lee launched a grand slam at Class-AAA St. Paul, while Walker Jenkins tripled and walked twice at Class-A Ft. Myers, improving his OPS to 1.192. Those two currently rank 18th and 16th on MLB.com's list of global top prospects, and it'd no surprise to see one or both reach the top 10 next spring.
Going through a pair of losing seasons (2021-2022) sucks, but for the Twins, it yielded two of the most heralded young talents in the game.
On the other side of the clobbering in Cleveland, a much bleaker outlook is taking shape. Legendary manager Terry Francona has made clear he is retiring at year's end. A major turnover is about to take hold, and based on the front office's 'sell' moves at the deadline – dealing two quality vets who were under control for 2024 – they don't seem inclined to make a push next year.
Cleveland will surely continue to pump out solid young arms, but as we've seen this year, that's not enough on its own. Their system lacks the star power of the Twins, and their present club can't remotely contend with Minnesota's young talent nucleus.
Despite their major flaws and question marks, the Guardians still seem like the most credible short-term threat in the division. Detroit's supposed emergence from the darkness was derailed this year as they fell flat again, heading toward a seventh straight sub-.500 finish. They have some promising young players but in reality it's shown no signs of coming together. (Aside from when they're playing the Twins, that is.)
The White Sox just zapped their front office as they crawl toward the end of a disaster campaign that currently has them 30 games under .500. The contention window they built toward by trading their stars and enduring seven years of cellar-dwelling resulted in one division title and zero postseason advancements; now they're back to the drawing board.
In classic Sox fashion, Chicago conducted no meaningful outside search for fresh outside leadership and hired Chris Getz internally. A culture shakeup!
We don't even really need to talk about the Kansas City Royals. I'm truly glad they got that title in 2015 because their fans deserve it, based on the endless purgatory they've endured before and since. This sad rudderless franchise, trudging through another 100-loss season, has no real hope of a turnaround in the remotely near future.
Realistically, is there anything that can happen during the coming offseason that would give any of these teams – Guardians, Tigers, White Sox, Royals – even a .500 projection for the 2024 season? They're bad! These franchises aren't rebuilding, they're smoldering.
Then you have the Twins. They're gonna run away with the division this year despite getting very little from the centerpiece players they just signed to long-term contracts. Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton are down but they are not out – MVP-caliber talents who haven't yet turned 30. They'll be surrounded by a core of young talent that includes Lewis, Julien, Wallner, Lee, Ryan Jeffers and Alex Kirilloff. Guys like Jose Miranda and Trevor Larnach should not be counted out. The farm is rock-solid.
And for the first time in forever, the Twins actually have some stable continuity on the pitching side. Pablo López is locked down for years to come, as a durable 27-year-old All-Star starter with elite swing-and-miss stuff. He's accompanied by Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober as controllable and proven mid-rotation starters, as well as a returning Chris Paddack who will be 28 and full-go next year. That's only the starting point!
In the bullpen, there's work to be done long-term but Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax form a rock-solid base.
When the Twins hired him seven years ago, Derek Falvey spoke of building a model for sustainable contention – a concept that felt foreign to a franchise six years removed from its last playoff appearance, and reeling from a 103-loss Total System Failure.
Today we can safely say we've seen Falvey's vision take hold. Assuming they finish the job this month, 2023 will mark Minnesota's fourth postseason berth in seven years under Falvey and Thad Levine. It's easy to feel confident there are more on the way, given all we've discussed.
Yes, that owes in part to the utterly dismal state of the American League Central. But who cares? All that matters is taking advantage of the situation you're in, and the Twins are very well poised to do just that.
The longest postseason drought in pro sports lies in the crosshairs. The Minnesota Twins are likely about the to get a bunch of shots at conquering their demon. The first is suddenly less than a month away.
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- Dman, mikelink45, weitz41 and 14 others
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