Minnesota Twins: 5 questions for the Twins heading into September

The Minnesota Twins are pushing toward their first division title in nine years, but several questions must be answered if they want to claim the AL Central.

For the first time in nearly a decade, the Minnesota Twins are heading into an important month of September. Although they have faced big games in the season’s final month in 2015 and 2017 as part of a chase for a wild card spot, this year feels different with the Twins having a legitimate chance to win the American League Central division.

Entering Sunday’s finale in Detroit, the Twins owned a 4 1/2 game lead over the Cleveland Indians in the division and with six games remaining with The Tribe, the Twins will be doing their best not to look over their shoulder in September. Of course, that will mean taking care of their own business which could have some ups and downs within itself.

Between now and the regular-season finale on Sept. 29 in Kansas City, there are plenty of questions that will be answered and several more that could determine if the Twins capture the division for the first time since 2010 or miss the playoffs altogether.

Can Byron Buxton stay healthy?

The 2019 season has been a mixed bag for Byron Buxton as he tries to live up to the expectations stemming from his rapid rise through the organization. The good news is that Buxton has taken a major step forward at the plate hitting .262 with 10 HR and 46 RBI. He’s also kept up his elite defense in center field with an 8.8 UZR, which is the second-highest of his career.

The issue with Buxton has been his health. While the 25-year old has played in 82 games this season, his variety of ailments has taken him off the field, which makes the Twins a far less effective team.

While the Twins have gone 57-25 with Buxton in the lineup this season, their record slumps to 25-26 when he doesn’t play. The Twins also become a much more one-dimensional team with Buxton on the shelf, as the speedster owns 14 of the Twins MLB-low 26 stolen bases.

Buxton’s style of play has been under ridicule in recent weeks and the performance of Jake Cave (hitting .367/.424/.717 with five HR in August) has helped soften the blow of his left shoulder subluxation that knocked him out of the lineup on Aug. 3. However, the Twins will need Buxton to go where they want to go and getting him healthy must be a key priority.

Can the Twins fix Jose Berrios?

While Buxton has impressed in 2019, something has just seemed off with one of the Twins other young stars. Jose Berrios started the season as the Twins’ Opening Day starter, but even as he got off to a fast start, he didn’t show the flashes of dominance that made many declare him the team’s ace.

Berrios still made the All-Star team for the second consecutive season as an injury replacement, but the bottom dropped out shortly after he represented the American League and has turned into a terrible month of August.

In five starts last month, Berrios did not look the part of an ace, going 1-2 with a 7.57 ERA. To emphasize his struggles, opposing hitters were hitting .333 off the right-hander and slugging at a .556 clip with six home runs. All of which have made Twins Territory wonder what is wrong with Berrios.

As the Twins go into the final month, they need to have their ace back. The starting rotation struggled as a whole in the month of August, but the Twins can’t continue relying on Michael Pineda to be their best pitcher. If Berrios can turn the ship around in September, the Twins will have a much better chance as they head into an October push.

While the starting rotaion has been bothersome for the Twins, the bullpen has been an issue since the season started. To the Twins credit, they have tried to make tweaks to the bullpen, getting rid of ineffective starters such as Blake Parker and Matt Magill, but the additions they have made hasn’t given Twins fans a sense of security.

The Twins biggest acquisition at the trade deadline was Sam Dyson and although he put up strong numbers with the San Francisco Giants, his performance has been up and down with a stint on the injured list mixed in upon his arrival.

Sergio Romo and Taylor Rogers have also been thrust into key situations and while their performance hasn’t been awful, they have also been prone to bad outings which have raised Twins fans’ level of crisis to dramatic proportions.

In the end, the Twins will need a better performance from their bullpen as the games get closer. The good news is that several relievers such as Zack Littell and Trevor May have turned it on as of late and reinforcements could be on the way in the form of Brusdar Graterol.

If the Twins can get a little more from the starting rotation as well, the bullpen should be able to get back on track when they need it the most.

Can the Twins hold off the Indians to win the AL Central?

The season has been a roller coaster for the Twins who looked to be running away with the American League Central in May only to see their lead completely evaporate in August. Now, with the Twins schedule becoming lighter, the hope is they can recapture that early season form and make their way into the postseason as division champions.

To do that, they’ll have to go through the Cleveland Indians, who will have reinforcements of their own, but also have some issues to deal with themselves. While they do expect to get Carlos Carrasco back in a relief role and possibly Corey Kluber at the top of the rotation, they won’t have the services of Jose Ramirez, who is expected to miss the rest of the regular season with a broken hand.

All of these variables should make for an interesting final month of the season which will include six head-to-head meetings between the Twins and Indians, marking a pair of the most important series in recent Twins history.

If the Twins can hold on, they’ll have the advantage of heading into a three-game ALDS series for the first time since their last division title in 2010. If not, they’ll fall into a log jam in the AL wild card standings that could see the Twins go from hosting the game to falling completely out of it in the blink of an eye.

Either way, it should be a fun month of September for the Twins as they look to capture the division crown.