AL Wild Card standings: Twins' are on the verge of being eliminated from playoffs

With their playoff lives on the line, the Minnesota Twins got lost 4-1 at home by the second-worst team in baseball.

It's the reverse Hollywood Ending, as while you couldn't script the team that cut $30 million out of its payroll having its season ended by one with a -220 run differential Twins fans can certainly believe it.

The season isn't technically over, but we've been living in technicalities for the last month. Minnesota was 3.5 games out from taking over first place in the AL Central back in early-August, but are now just two losses away from missing the postseason.

It's the end result of deeply unserious ownership creating an absolute hellscape for a front office to operate in and expecting a poorly supported roster to run back the surprise success it had last season. The Pohlads are bound to learn all the wrong lessons from what the Detroit Tigers did to surge back into the postseason picture, Rocco Baldelli is likely to be fired for the collapse, and there's a decent chance that Derek Falvey and Thad Levine take jobs elsewhere in the league.

Minnesota has endured two collapses, one being the flameout we've witnessed over the last month but the other being how unbelievably grim things have gotten less than a calendar year after the future seemed so bright.

AL Wild Card standings after Twins embarrassing 4-1 loss to Marlins

For as bad as the Twins have been since mid-August, they still had a wide open chance to get back into the playoff picture before it was too late.

Miami would be the worst team in baseball were it not for the historically bad White Sox, which seemed like a perfect opportunity for Minnesota to course correct. Instead, they allowed a team with the second-worst ERA in the league to hold them to just a single run. The Marlins lowered their absymal run differential to -220 by tagging the Twins for four runs in the second inning and sinking Minnesota even further down the AL Wild Card standings.

Things are dire, as the Twins are running out of road in a hurry.

We're now in reverse Mgic Number territory. Rather than counting down how many games the Twins have before they clinch, fans are watching the standings to see how close Minnesota is to elimination. Despite holding the tiebreaker over Kansas City and Detroit, the Twins are two games back with five to go and could be out of things by Thursday.

It's been a stunning collapse, one that will cost jobs and casts serious doubt over what the future holds. The season isn't over yet, but it sure feels that way and it's not merely a matter of time before the Twins are officially out of the playoff picture.

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