Perfectly Even

 

Looking at the Twins now, 2 months into the season, is fascinating. This might be the single most even, level and consistent team in the bigs. You look around at this team and pretty much everything is working. Even on the really good teams there's some pitching issue or a hole at 3rd. The Twins just have good people everywhere right now, and...as such, they're in second and rolling.

For the first time, it feels like a lot of the factors that have been building for years in this organization are finally paying off. Byron Buxton having his fullest season in years, hitting .274 with 10 homers and 37 RBIs. He's finally feeling like the all-around hitter the team's deserved for years. Chris Paddack, who the Twins traded for years ago in the hopes he'd perform as he did in 2019, has turned into a pretty strong mid-rotation arm, with a 3.58 ERA in 12 starts. Pablo Lopez, despite skipping a couple starts, has continued his excellent Minnesota pace, with a 2.82 ERA and 60 Ks in 11 starts. Jhoan Duran was the strongest reliever in the bigs last month, currently has a 0.99 ERA, and headlines a very strong rotation with several multifaceted arms. And a number of mid-lineup hitters, like Ryan Jeffers, Trevor Larnach, Kody Clemens, Ty France and Matt Wallner, have been producing consistently as of late. Now Willi Castro's joining in, with a couple days of consistent RBIs.

There are slight stumbling points at the moment, like Zebby Matthews in that 5th starting spot [should be David Festa] and Brooks Lee and Royce Lewis's struggling prospect platoon at 3rd. But they're not killing the team. The idea is for Lewis to go on a tear [like he usually does], or for Matthews to finally acclimate to the majors, and enough is going well that these things can take their time. Right now there's only 3 people on the IL, and none are especially crucial pieces; Danny Coulombe and his 0.00 ERA will be back eventually, and Luke Keaschall is 22 and will have plenty of other chances. Hopefully the injury luck stays this good, although Byron Buxton, Royce Lewis and Chris Paddack are aware of the odds there.

I dunno, I was expecting this team to skirt the middle but because so much is working, and so uniformly, the Twins might be a surprise sleeper favorite. If they stay this consistent for the next few months, they could be working on something. And that doesn't even account for the guys that weren't working in April or May that have the potential to spark fire and help the team later on. I'm really intrigued by this prospect of this team continuing to factor into this division, and I hope they can keep the Guardians and Royals at bay for a bit longer.

Coming Tomorrow- He left my team, he hit some home runs, and now there's this idea that he could come back.