In a season that has featured its fair share of ups-and-downs, nothing gave Minnesota Twins fans a more deflating and helpless feeling than what happened on Monday night in Cleveland.
Griffin Jax entered the game with a 3-2 lead, got out of a jam but surrendered a go-ahead home run after needing to work multiple innings. Minnesota's best pitcher getting tagged in a must-win game unfortunately feels like the only way things could have gone given everything that's happened this season.
Minnesota blew multiple opportunities to pad its lead against the Guardians, and squandered momentum that forced Cleveland to go to its bullpen early. Rather than capitalize, the Twins stalled out and nothing personifies their current situation more than that.
At various points this season, the Twins had chances to meaningfully add to the roster but flat out refused to do so. Minnesota slashed $30 million out of its payroll over the winter, opted to take fliers on low-wattage free agents, traded its All-Star second baseman in a salary dump, and essentially made Thoughts and Prayers its strategy for winning the AL Central.
It turns out that's not an actual strategy, and the house of cards is collapsing exactly when you'd expect it to in exactly the way everyone thought it might.
Twins deciding to get cheap this year is backfiring at the worst possible time
Griffin Jax isn't just the Twins' best pitcher, he's one of the best relievers in baseball. He has a 1.95 ERA and 0.881 WHIP this year, and is the prototypical pitcher teams ride deep into a playoff run.
Well, teams that are properly constructed to go on deep runs.
The Twins have always had the bones of a contender but needed to add muscle to go deep into October. Instead of chasing the most successful season of the last two decades by adding to the roster, ownership cowered in the face of potential lost future revenue and cut spending.
We all know what happened next. The front office was handcuffed as far as what moves it could make which led to half-baked moves that did more harm than good. Nothing personified this more than the weak trade deadline move to acquire Trevor Richards, who threw more wild pitches than all Twins pitchers combined and didn't last more than a month on the roster.
Now the bill has come due, and its fans who are paying the price.
Down in Kansas City the Royals are having the type of season we all thought the Twins would have. They went out and spent wisely to improve the roster, despite facing the same TV revenue plight, and might end up winning the division.
Meanwhile, Twins fans in a Clockwork Orange situation where they're forced to watch their best pitcher break under unfair pressure as the season slips away. It's one thing to watch the team collapse, but it's another thing to watch it happen knowing it didn't have to be this way.