What is the story about?
The youth movement is continuing to progress, with Emmanuel “Dinamita” Rodriguez making his major league debut this past weekend, hitting a homer in his first big-league at-bat. Unfortunately for Rodriguez, he’s joining the team just as they are all but mathematically eliminated from making it to the playoffs. There’s a chance, but with the way the Twins played against the division the past two weeks, it seems unlikely the team could make a miracle push in the last couple of weeks of the season,
especially since they no longer face any in-division opponents for the rest of the season.
The Past Week on Twinkie Town:
- Check out The Feed, where you can add your discussions about the Twins!
- We’re starting a new segment called Daily Questions! Provide your opinion on the Twins and debate with the community!
- Game threads and recaps are back! Commiserate with your fellow fans as we experience the season together.
- This past weekend was the 25th anniversary of September 11th, and Zach Koenig recaps the last Twins game before that fateful day.
- Aidan O’Brien checks in on the Twins’ 2026 draft class in their first taste of professional baseball.
Elsewhere in Twins Territory:
- Dan Hayes at The Athletic checks in with Emmanuel Rodriguez after his major-league debut.
- The Twins have a second Culpepper in their farm system, and Theo Tollefson at Zone Coverage recaps how CJ was finally able to have a complete season.
- Bobby Nightengale at the Star Tribune revealed the Twins’ all-star prospect team for 2026.
- Cody Christie at Twins Daily documents how one Michael Cuddyer homer saved the life of one of his teammates on 9/11.
In the World of Baseball:
- We have our first playoff spot clinched! The Tampa Bay Rays are locked into a playoff spot and have a 4.0-game lead over the Yankees for the AL East and the AL #1 seed. Meanwhile, the White Sox and Guardians are only half a game apart. In the West, it’s just as close, with the Astros and Rangers separated by only one game. And in the wild card race, the Guardians, Blue Jays, and Rangers are all within two games of each other for the final spot.
- The Brewers have joined the Rays as a lock for the playoffs, and currently hold a 2.5-game lead over the Dodgers. They have also almost clinched their division as well. It’s not much of a race in the other divisions either, with Atlanta holding a 5.0-game lead over the Phillies, and the Dodgers holding a 9.0-game lead over the Padres. The Wild Card race has also settled a bit, with the Diamondbacks now 2.5 games back from the Padres in the race for the final spot. It’s not insurmountable, but with less than 15 games left in the season, Arizona needs to pick up the pace.
- Jeff Passan at ESPN shares some early intel on the offseason, and the questions facing teams and players with a lockout looming.
- Jared Greenspan at MLB.com looks at how Ichiro is continuing to stay loose in retirement.
- David Laurila at Fangraphs checks in with current major league starters and how they feel aboutthe collective decline in workloads.
