First Pitch: 12:40 pm CDT

TV: Bally Sports North / ~ / Radio: TIBN

It is time, once again, to play the Cleveland Guardians. After losing the last three games to their division rival, any hope of the playoffs is all but lost. However, there is still plenty to watch as eyes start looking towards next season.

To start, what does the future hold for the Twins’ leadership? While there are plenty of excuses to be made, there’s no doubt that the last two seasons have been disappointing for Twins fans with how much talent is on the roster. On the flip side, at one point last night the Twins had an outfield of Billy Hamilton, Mark Contreras, and Matt Wallner, which certainly no one had in the plans at any point this season. Unprecedented injury luck has pushed the Twins relatively strong position player depth to the brink.

While the injury situation is out of their control, I think there’s questions to ask about the Twins’ pitching usage. Sticking with Dylan Bundy, Chris Archer, and Emilio Pagán as long as they did hurt this team as much as the injuries.

On the positive side, the young players have impressed across the board and should set the Twins up well going forward. Take a look at this list and try not to be excited for the future.

• Jose Miranda has established himself as a lineup fixture.
• Nick Gordon had a breakout season that no one saw coming, even the Twins.
• Luis Arraez was an All-Star and may still win the batting title, even after injuries have slowed him down.
• Jhoan Duran is one of the five best relievers in baseball.
• Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober continued their development and showed that their 2021 seasons were not a fluke.
• Griffin Jax emerged as a bullpen weapon.
• Trevor Larnach, Alex Kirilloff, and Royce Lewis showed that they can be regulars when they’re healthy.

All this to say, yes this season is disappointing, but there’s still plenty to watch and look forward to the rest of the way this season. Go Twins!

Question of the Day: Would you bring back Rocco, Falvey, and Levine if you ran the Twins?