Minnesota Twins: 3 Reasons not to Overreact to the team’s Slow Start
By Otto Johnson
Reason for Optimism for the Minnesota Twins No. 1: Positive Numbers
The Minnesota Twins offense finished last year with a positive run differential of 54 runs, meaning they scored 54 more runs than their opponents. This year, they are still sitting at a differential of +6, meaning that despite losing more games than they’ve won, they’re outscoring their competition.
In addition to this, the Twins’ Pythagorean Winning Percentage is solid. The team is supposed to be 8-6 right now, which while not great, is better than where they currently sit. The team should correct it’s path sooner rather than later.
How do they do that? Relying on the team bouncing back. The bullpen has given up 35 runs in 50.1 innings, while Alex Colome, Caleb Thielbar, Cody Stashak, and Hansel Robles all have ERAs over 5.00 while Randy Dobnak actually has an ERA that’s almost 12.
The offense also will bounce back. While some players have had really good starts to the year, others have not. Mitch Garver, Ryan Jeffers, Miguel Sano, Jorge Polanco, and Jake Cave are all hitting under .205. That won’t last all year.
Despite how bad a lot of the individual player’s numbers are currently, they will for sure bounce back the rest of the year. And on top of that, the team’s underlying numbers aren’t terrible. This team will bounce back.