Head-scratching, indeed
Usually, I can come into a fresh Minnesota Twins season with a finger on the pulse of the squad—underachiever, overachiever, or right-on-the-projections.
But for 2025, I truly have no idea how the Twins may perform. There are legitimate reasons for the campaign to go either way:
Reasons For Hope
- The SP trio of Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, & Bailey Ober is in the top quartile of MLB. The likes of Simeon Woods Richardson, Chris Paddack, David Festa, & Zebby Matthews are all intriguing candidates for the rotation’s back end.
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- If Brock Stewart’s comeback trail continues unencumbered, his pairing with Jhoan Duran & Griffin Jax (+ the surprising Cole Sands & a looks-to-now-be-a-true-reliever Louie Varland) would constitute a formidable late-innings bullpen.
- There is always the possibility that Royce Lewis, Byron Buxton, & Carlos Correa play 120+ games together. If that happens, I say the Twins auto-win the division almost on that alone. Lewis’ recent hamstring malady does put this into doubt from the jump, but it seems to perhaps be less severe than last year’s quad injury on Opening Day.
Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images
- The ‘24 Twins were 70-53 on August 17 before the epic collapse. While no one can—or should—forget the bad taste that left, the fact remains that this looked to be a championship-competitive squad deep into the summer’s dog days last year.
If all—or even most—of those things break right, I believe the Twins will play in October.
Reasons For Concern
- All that optimism over a potential ownership change? Poof—gone. Not that it won’t happen, but it doesn’t look as imminent as it did a month or so ago.
Photo by Kirby Lee/Getty Images
- Though the Pohlads opened the billfold slightly more than last offseason, depth pieces like Ty France, Mickey Gasper, & Harrison Bader don’t exactly move the needle towards significant roster improvement.
- Health—always just health with this franchise. If multiple key cogs go down with medium-to-long-term injuries, there isn’t enough roster depth to stay afloat.
- The AL Central might just be a beast of a division now. Cleveland has the perennial pitching tree out back of Progressive Field, while the Royals & Tigers are now “tough series” as opposed to “get-right opportunities”.
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If most of those break wrong, I could see the Twins on the outer fringes of the Wild Card.
So, flip a coin…shake a magic 8-ball…Ask Jeeves…consult your AI of choice. All those methods are as good as mine in predicting the final result of the 2025 Minnesota Twins.