The Minnesota Twins’ 2025 season has hit another rough patch.
After suffering consecutive walk-off losses to cap a sweep in Houston this weekend, the Twins have lost four in a row and eight of their last ten games. They’re 10-15 since the incredible 13-game winning streak that brought them back to life after a poor start.
Sitting at 36-35 on the year, Rocco Baldelli’s club is back near .500 and currently out of a playoff spot for the first time in over a month.
The Twins haven’t been playing good baseball lately, and what’s even more concerning is their mounting injuries. Pablo Lopez is on the 60-day IL with a shoulder issue and won’t be back anytime soon. Zebby Matthews is on the IL as well, meaning the Twins no longer have any starting pitching depth to lean on.
On the position player side, Royce Lewis just began his seventh IL stint in the last four years after suffering another hamstring strain.
Luke Keaschall is also hurt, as is No. 2 prospect Emmanuel Rodriguez. Byron Buxton, the Twins’ best player this year, has been out since he was hit by a pitch in Saturday’s game, although it sounds like he could return on Tuesday.
Injury woes will once again test the Twins’ depth, and there’s little reason to believe the team will make any meaningful additions prior to the trade deadline, especially with an ownership situation in flux.
The pitching rotation without Lopez is the most glaring area that could derail the entire season. Minnesota starters have the worst collective ERA in baseball (6.67) in the 11 games since Lopez got hurt on June 3. Joe Ryan has been sharp all year and might be an All-Star, but he’s the only healthy Twins starter with a season ERA below 4.30.
Joe Ryan: 2.93 ERA
Chris Paddack: 4.30 ERA
Bailey Ober: 4.40 ERA
David Festa: 4.76 ERA
Simeon Woods Richardson: 5.13 ERA
Paddack and Ober have to find themselves again if the Twins are going to have any chance at staying afloat until Lopez is back.
The two veterans have had similarly strange years.
They both began the season by getting shelled, followed that with a very strong stretch in their next 11 or 12 starts, and have now struggled in their most recent outing or two. Ober has allowed 12 earned runs in his last 11.2 innings amid concerns about his health and mechanics. Paddack surrendered eight earned runs in an ugly outing on Friday night. They’re both set to pitch in this week’s series in Cincinnati.
It’s encouraging, at least, that Festa and Woods Richardson are coming off of strong performances. Another reason for optimism is that the Twins’ bullpen remains excellent, even if Jhoan Duran had a rough time in the Astros series.
Unfortunately, the lineup is also a major concern after a dreadful showing in Houston. In those three games, the Twins were 0 for 14 with runners in scoring position, left 16 on base, and struck out 37 times. They scored six total runs, all of them coming on five home runs. For the season, the Twins are 18th in OPS (.700) and tied for 19th in runs per game (4.15).
Carlos Correa, their highest-paid player, continues to struggle in what has thus far been the worst season of his career. Four Twins regulars — Kody Clemens, Harrison Bader, Christian Vazquez, and Matt Wallner — are hitting .212 or worse over the last month. And right when Lewis seemed to be figuring it out a bit, he’s now out of the picture once again.
All hope is not lost. This weekend’s series in Houston felt a lot like the series in Cleveland at the end of April, when the Twins were walked off twice in a three-game sweep. Shortly after that series, they ripped off 13 wins in a row. Things can always change quickly.
But right now, it’s not looking good. The Twins are slumping again, and they’ll need to snap out of it quickly to stay in the playoff mix over the course of this summer.
