Twins 2015: Worst to Second Place

Former Minnesota Twins and Milwaukee Brewers baseball star Paul Molitor is introduced to the crowd Sunday, July 24, 2005, at a Tee Ball game on the South Lawn of the White House, where he participated as first base coach. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The bad old days of 90 losses per season for the Minnesota Twins are over, at least for now.  The team finished 83-79 under first-year manager Paul Molitor, just shy of making the playoffs as an American League Wild Card.

The Twins started the season getting hammered at Detroit, and ended it by getting swept at home by the Central Division-champ Kansas City Royals.  In between, the quality of play that had been eluding them for four seasons caused the Twins to leapfrog over three other teams to take second place in the division behind the Royals.  Never mind that they were a distant second, twelve games back.

In this era of extended playoffs, the Twins kept things interesting by competing with the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Angels for the final wild card spot.  The combination of having to outpace two teams in the final weeks, and the lack of timely hitting and pitching ultimately did in the Twins.  The Wild Card went to the Astros, who had been doormats themselves for the past few years.

So what happens in 2016?  Molitor, who did better than most of us expected with the hand that general manager Terry Ryan dealt him with, will try and do as much as he can with this collection of Twins.  But there are many things to answer for the team to move forward:

• Will Torii Hunter be back?
• What are you going to do about Joe Mauer, who has become an albatross with his contract and declining play?
• Are Byron Buxton, Aaron Hicks and Miguel Sano living up to the hype?
• Can the bullpen survive another meltdown like the one Glen Perkins had in the second half of the season, forcing the Twins to make Kevin Jepsen--who they had just gotten from the Tampa Bay Rays in a trade--their new starter?
• Will Phil Hughes, Trevor May, Tommy Milone and Ervin Santana improve as starting pitchers?
• Can anyone other than Sano and Trevor Plouffe hit?  Out of the infield?

The Twins did have their best season in five years, no question about it.  The next season will tell us whether they can improve on it, or to go back where they came from.

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Our World Series pick:  Toronto Blue Jays vs. St. Louis Cardinals.