After starting a four-game series against the Guardians with back-to-back losses, the Twins were seemingly on the verge of their season slipping away in Cleveland (again). But back-to-back wins, including Thursday's nerve-wracking 12th-inning victory/escape, salvaged a series split and a 3-4 road trip.
They're still below .500 with nine games to play until the August 3 trade deadline, but a 51-53 record heading into a six-game home stand versus the A's and Royals — two of the three worst teams in the American League — at least keeps alive the Twins' hopes of convincing the front office and ownership to buy rather than sell.
It's still not a great situation by any means, with the Twins sitting 2.5 games back for the AL's last wild-card spot and 4.5 games behind the first-place White Sox in the AL Central. But because just five AL teams have winning records, and just two are on pace for more than 87 wins, the door to the playoffs is far from closed.
FanGraphs projects the Twins' playoff odds at 26 percent, and winning two home series with non-contending teams would likely bump that close to 35 percent. By comparison, the Twins' playoffs odds were 6 percent on deadline day last season, leading to a fire sale trading 11 players and shedding $125 million in future payroll.
Aaron Gleeman
Tom Pohlad took over as the Twins' lead owner in mid-December. He's spent the seven months since then repeatedly insisting he prefers to be aggressive and will be eager to invest in improving the roster at the trade deadline if the Twins are in position to make the playoffs.