One year later, Twins are still struggling to break free from last season's collapse
As of last Aug. 17, the Twins had the American League's fourth-best record at 70-53 (.569), with playoff odds well above 90 percent. They've played 163 games since then — a full MLB season, plus one game — going 70-93 (.429) for the AL's second-worst record, ahead of only the Chicago White Sox.
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It started last season, when the Twins fumbled away a playoff spot with a 12-27 collapse down the stretch, and the poor play has continued this year. Despite a 13-game winning streak in May, they're 58-66 overall, including 32-46 since the streak ended and 11-17 since the All-Star break.
There were seemingly few signs of impending doom when Alcala took the mound in Texas last Aug. 18. Not only were the Twins in prime position for a playoff spot two-thirds of the way through the season, they were coming off a 2023 division title and their first playoff series win in two decades.
And then, as if a switch was flipped from 'good' to 'bad' without anyone realizing it, they just stopped winning, for 12 months and 163 games. And counting, because the final 38 games of this season don't figure to be very pretty. They are 7-9 since trading 40 percent of the roster at the deadline.
The @Rangers have scored 5 runs in the 7th and take a 5-4 lead on Josh Jung's home run! pic.twitter.com/WSWLEQhsrz
— MLB (@MLB) August 18, 2024
Prior to Sunday's sweep-avoiding 8-1 win over the Detroit Tigers, manager Rocco Baldelli was asked about the collapse starting a year ago. For a half-hour, he reflected on the anniversary and answered follow-up questions, on both his role and his view of where it went — and continues to go — wrong.
'It's something I've thought about many times before,' Baldelli said. 'And probably will think about at some different points in the future.'
Baldelli repeatedly stressed that he considers 2024 and 2025 to be separate entities, attributing a major part of last season's collapse to being without injured stars Byron Buxton, Carlos Correa and Joe Ryan throughout much of the second half. That same trio was largely healthy this season.
'It would be very convenient for me, or for you, or anyone else, to connect the last two months of last year with this season,' Baldelli said. 'I try not to do that most of the time, although it's hard to completely separate.'
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After he went into greater depth on the impact injuries had last season, and other ways 2024 and 2025 are different, he landed on what may ultimately be the biggest takeaway from the entire conversation: 'I don't have a one-sentence explanation, or even a one-paragraph explanation. I really don't.'
'Frankly, we just have to play better,' Baldelli said. 'That's really the only way I can look at it. I look in the mirror every day and always will take full responsibility for our team, even more so when we don't play well. And we just frankly have not performed the way that we have to perform.'
It's fair to note 'responsibility' can be a tricky subject with fans of a poor-performing team, particularly when the Pohlads just pulled the franchise off the market, Twins president Derek Falvey's job status appears secure and the front office already exercised Baldelli's contract option for 2026.
A letter from the Pohlad family: pic.twitter.com/s6ff66W5DU
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) August 13, 2025
It's also tough to ignore the widespread ineffectiveness of the roster built by Falvey and managed by Baldelli. As usual, injuries have been a factor, but too many of the Twins' core players, from veteran leaders to younger building blocks, simply haven't produced anywhere near expectations.
Over the past 365 days, the Twins' lineup has been 24th in OPS and 24th in runs out of 30 teams. Royce Lewis hit .209 with a .577 OPS. Brooks Lee hit .233 with a .634 OPS. Edouard Julien and Jose Miranda each batted under .200, and Miranda hasn't returned from a Triple-A demotion in April.
Correa hit .273 with a .734 OPS for the Twins before being traded/salary dumped. Christian Vázquez hit .181 with a team-worst .481 OPS, and he's likely out for the season with a shoulder infection. Buxton (.878) and Matt Wallner (.818) are the only still-present hitters with an OPS above .750.
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'We have some areas where we've come up short relative to what we've projected,' Falvey said on deadline day. 'There have been a few position players that, if you ask them, they'd say, 'I'm not performing quite to my abilities.' Some of those are health-related. It's not for a lack of effort.'
During that same year-long period, the Twins' pitching staff is 23rd in ERA and 24th in Win Probability Added. Alcala, whose Aug. 18 implosion started this mess, had a team-worst 8.38 ERA before being traded in June. And the good-performing members of the bullpen were all traded at the deadline.
Ryan and Pablo López had sub-3.00 ERAs, but each missed extended time with injuries. And every other starter posted an ERA worse than 4.60, from veterans Bailey Ober (5.24) and Chris Paddack (4.96) to youngsters Zebby Matthews (5.91), David Festa (5.19) and Simeon Woods Richardson (4.63).
'We had been hovering around or under .500 and just couldn't quite get things going in the right direction,' Falvey said. 'We've got to find a new way to do it. Part of that decision was, at this deadline, to reset a few of those spots, to think differently about the way the roster is constructed.'
The Minnesota Twins take home the title of 'busiest sellers at the deadline' after moving 10 players this week. 👀 pic.twitter.com/wn6Fb5xNu3
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) August 1, 2025
It's been 365 days and 163 games of very poor play for the Twins, starting with a seven-week collapse that took down a playoff-bound 2024 team and continuing with five months of underwhelming 2025 performances ruining what was supposed to be a playoff contender this season.
'I don't want this conversation, that question and the response, it shouldn't sound good,' Baldelli said. 'I shouldn't be using fancy words to make it all sound any better than it is. We have to do better offensively, defend better, pitch better. And we have to continue to develop our players better.'
In some ways, the Twins' front office has tried to turn the page by paying the Houston Astros to take back Correa and trading essentially the entire bullpen, but doing so also guarantees the losing won't stop for the rest of this season and increases the chances of more losing in 2026.
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Watching what has become of the Twins over the past 163 games, it can be difficult to comprehend how they were a defending division champion with a 70-53 record exactly 12 months ago. How did it go wrong, so suddenly and so thoroughly? No one seems to know, and that might be the scariest part.
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Joe Flacco named as Browns' starting quarterback, winning competitive race for QB1
Joe Flacco is a starting quarterback again. The Cleveland Browns announced Monday that Flacco, a 40-year-old veteran, will be the team's QB1. To earn the starting role, Flacco had to beat out four other competitors: Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel, Shedeur Sanders and the recently acquired Tyler Huntley. Flacco has continually held the edge in the race to be named the starter. He has been consistently atop the unofficial depth charts throughout the preseason, followed by Pickett at QB2 and then Gabriel, Sanders, Huntley and the injured Deshaun Watson all listed at QB3. Pickett, who appeared poised to compete with Flacco for the starting job, suffered a hamstring injury in camp, while Sanders suffered an oblique injury that held him out of Week 2 of the preseason. [Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2025 NFL season] Of the Browns' QB room, Flacco and Pickett are the only two who have yet to play in the preseason. Sanders made his NFL debut with a solid showing in the first game against the Carolina Panthers, while Gabriel started in Saturday's win over the Philadelphia Eagles. Huntley played in both games as a backup. On Sunday, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said that the team would be naming its starter ahead of the final preseason game this weekend, in order to treat the game as a dress rehearsal for the regular season. As a result, Flacco will make his preseason debut with Cleveland as the Browns take on the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday. Flacco was the Baltimore Ravens' starting quarterback for 11 seasons, notably winning a Super Bowl with the team in the 2012 season. He has bounced between four different teams for the past few seasons. Flacco's last stint with Cleveland, in 2023, ended with the veteran winning Comeback Player of the Year. Flacco signed with the Browns late in that season to replace an injured Watson and ended up leading the team to the playoffs. Having previously worked with the Browns, Flacco showed more promise as a Week 1 starter, with his experience and familiarity with the system serving as a leg up over the younger Pickett. How has the Browns' quarterback race shaken out since the start of training camp? Cleveland has had one of the most competitive quarterback races in the NFL this year, with the Browns holding a large number of very different QB options. At this point in the preseason, the Browns have six quarterbacks under contract: Flacco, Pickett, Gabriel, Sanders, Huntley and Watson, who is out again after tearing his Achilles twice last year. The seemingly always-injured Watson (who Browns owner Jimmy Haslam recently admitted was a mistake to trade for) was not expected to be a part of the quarterback race. That left the remaining five. Early in training camp, Flacco and Pickett emerged as clear frontrunners for the job, taking the most first-team snaps and overall showing the most promise as starters. Pickett, a fourth-year veteran suffered a hamstring injury before returning to training camp a week later. With Pickett out, Flacco, the most experienced of the group, took control of the QB1 spot prior to the first preseason game. In the Browns' first unofficial depth chart prior to the first preseason game, Flacco was listed as QB1, with Pickett as QB2 after returning from injury. Rookies Gabriel and Sanders were listed as third- and fourth-string, respectively. The two rookies have been largely working with backups throughout the start of training camp, with Sanders even working with members of the equipment team. Gabriel has also been limited in practice due to his own hamstring injury, though he still held in front of Sanders in the initial review. And Huntley, a career backup who spent some time with the Browns last season, largely seems to be a last-second addition in case either Gabriel or Pickett's injuries extend longer than expected. It's unclear whether he will make it to the 53-man roster, especially considering the number of quarterbacks that Cleveland is holding.
