After 18 wins in August, the Twins have found themselves back in the playoff hunt.
The surge in victories comes after the team’s front office decided to trade All-Star closer Brandon Kintzler as well as starting pitcher Jaime Garcia at the July 31 trade deadline.
But this didn’t exactly sit well with the players remaining in the clubhouse. As Ken Rosenthal reported on Monday, the team held at least one closed-door meeting following the trades.
According to Rosenthal’s story, the players talked about playing for each other and controlling only what they can control.
Obviously something clicked because if the season ended today, the Twins would be playing in the winner-take-all American League Wild Card Game.
Twins second baseman Brian Dozier has been the most vocal about Minnesota needing to add a key piece. He told GoMN Sports in mid-July that he expected the club to be buyers, but obviously that didn’t happen.
“We should be adding [players]. It’s frustrating,” Dozier said to Rosenthal.
Dozier’s been taking his anger out on baseballs this month, as he’s hit nine home runs, with 20 RBI, while hitting just under .300.
After being traded to Washington, Kintzler told Rosenthal that a lot of the players were upset.
“Those guys were mad,” Kintzler said. “Joe Mauer and some of those guys haven’t been in a close race in a really long time.”
At the beginning of the month shortly after the trades happened, Derek Falvey, the team’s president of baseball operations, told the Pioneer Press that “I want our guys to be a little upset when things don’t go exactly the way they want them to.”
Arguably, being upset has played a part in the Twins’ recent uptick in wins this month.
Throughout this season, every time it appears this club is done for, they prove to be resilient and come right back with a string of wins.
And for the first time in a long time, the Twins are playing meaningful baseball games heading into September.
That’s something that hasn’t happened for the majority of the decade.
