At one point near the end of Succession an exhausted Logan Roy told his children that while he loved them he knew they weren't serious people. In a show that featured absolutely brutal putdowns, that was by far the one that cut the deepest.
That's exactly how Minnesota Twins fans are feeling right now. While there's no denying the love fans have for their guys, it's become abundantly clear that the Twins are a deeply unserious baseball team.
Nothing confirmed that more than what happened on Tuesday night.
Minnesota was coming off back-to-back series losses that had f pushed them out of the playoff picture. If there was ever a moment to have a last stand and prove the Twins belonged in the postseason it was against the Miami Marlins. If it weren't for the historically awful White Sox, the Marlins would be the worst team in baseball, having won fewer than 60 games while boasting a run differential of -223 and owning the second-worst ERA in the league.
That's the team the Twins had lined up to get back on track against, but it's the team that might have ended their season.
Miami scored four runs in the second inning, which proved to be a hole too deep for the Twins to climb out of. It was a flat our embarrassing showing, from Manuel Margot lazily chasing down a ball that landed fair to Matt Wallner seemingly getting injured during a pinch hit at-bat.
At one point in the eighth inning, Rocco Baldelli frantically tried to decide whether to have a conversation with the home plate umpire about whether a high and inside pitch had clipped the knob of Jonah Bride's bat and should count as a foul tip out. Minnesota was down three runs at this point to a team with -- this is what the season has come to.
Twins confirmed just how unserious they are after embarrassing loss to the Marlins
It's been slow slide down the muddy side of a hill, as Minnesota went from being 3.5 games away from a first-round bye in early August to being down 4-1 to the Marlins with their season on the line in late September. The collapse has been stunning, and one of the worst that Twins fans have been forced to endure.
We're now in a reverse Magic Number situation, as the Twins are watching the standings to see how many games they have left before being officially eliminated. It's two, by the way, as the Tigers and Royals winning on Tuesday means Minnesota is two games out of the final Wild Card spot with five games left to go.
There are a number of factors that led to this point, not the least of which is where the unseriousness starts. Ownership slashed $30 million out of the payroll this winter, smothering the good vibes from the deepest postseason run since 2004 and setting a miserable tone for the season. Without proper resources, the front office couldn't meaningfully add to the roster which left the team exposed to potentially getting rocked by injuries.
Guess what happened?
Carlos Correa missed two months, Byron Buxton made it until August before missing extended time, and the seasons of Joe Ryan, Brock Stewart, and Max Kepler were all cut short. Injuries happen, but it's hard to not connect the stress being put on a poorly supported roster with how things collapsed.
Absolutey zero care or thought was put into the roster's construction, from salary dumping Jorge Polanco to making perhaps the lowest wattage deal in trade deadline history. There was no other way this season could have ended, and fans have every right to be fearful that the Pohlad's will pass the blame by firing those below them while also remaining the single biggest issue with the franchise.
Fans still love them, but the Twins confirmed on Tuesday night that they're a deeply unserious, and frighteningly flawed, team.