For a brief, hopeful moment in the early goings of 2016, it looked like the Minnesota Twins might be able to dig themselves out of their 0-9 hole. Four consecutive victories—a sweep of the Angels and a win over the Brew Crew—harbored hope for a comeback.
Byung-Ho was launching massive Park-bangs and even professional wrestlers were into the action…
But after that respite, the Twins resumed losing—and losing—and, well, all of a sudden they were 8-26 on May 13. A mind-boggling 15-games back of the AL
Central lead before colleges were even coronating.
On May 1, there was a loss to the Detroit Tigers so embarrassing I needed a nature walk to shake it off…
At one point, Twins ownership—then fronted by Jim Pohlad—called the entire debacle “Total System Failure”. I repeat—the owner of the club called his product an abject failure.
To the surprise of no one, the losing continued…
Perhaps nothing personified the 2016 bottoming-out more than the titanic struggles from reliever Kevin Jepsen (whom Twinkie Town once—in a post I cannot seem to find, alas—voted to launch into space):
- 4/4: Loss
- 4/8: Loss
- 4/19: Loss
- 4/24: Blown Save
- 4/26: Blown Save
- 5/10: Loss
- 6/5: Loss
- 6/18: Blown Save
Sure, a few outings were okay, but of the 33 Jepsen jaunts in ‘16 only four ended without at least one hit or walk.
It would not be out of bounds to call the first two months of the 2016 season the worst stretch in Minnesota Twins history. Between bullpen blow-ups and lackluster lumber, this squad immediately flushed away every ounce of 2015’s extraordinary momentum.
If a picture is truly worth a thousand—or in this case about 300—words, this would be the one to sum it up…
So take heart, 2026 Twins fans—it could always be worse! Just ask someone who lived through 2016.
