The Minnesota Twins were swept by the Cincinnati Reds over the weekend. Minnesota was competitive in most of the games, but the ball club was unable to earn any victories. The Twins had entered the series in first place in the American League Central division, but they are now 11-11 and in third place in the AL Central. The defense was especially questionable, as they made three errors on Sunday.
Former Twins player Trevor Plouffe shared his thoughts on the ball club during a recent episode of Talkin' Baseball.
"Even when they were in first place, that was another one of those things where you're like, okay, well, you know, lot of season left," Plouffe said. "Lot of things have been going right. They have to figure out defensively kind of what they're doing. It doesn't look good right now."
The Twins out-performed expectations to begin the 2026 season. There were not many people around the MLB world who expected Minnesota to make a competitive run this year. However, the ball club was finding ways to win games.
The reality of the situation is that the roster has a lot of question marks. The Twins are also dealing with multiple injuries.
The Twins' defense is a question mark. They are 25th in defensive wins above average and 23rd in outs above average. Minnesota has made the sixth most errors in the league with 14 through their first 22 games played. The Twins' .982 fielding percentage is below league average.
Defense is a part of the game that sometimes gets overlooked. Sure, everyone loves an exciting highlight. A diving catch or a robbed home run catches attention. However, the underlying defensive statistics are also worth paying attention to, and the Twins have struggled defensively without question.
The pitching has been rather mediocre. The Twins are 17th in ERA, 21st in WHIP, and 26th in opposing batting average.
Offensively, the ball club is scoring runs, as they are seventh in total runs scored. Minnesota is sixth in home runs as well. The Twins are not especially consistent, as they are just 20th in batting average. Nevertheless, the lineup is clearly a big reason why Minnesota has out-performed expectations to begin the new campaign.
Now, the Twins will need to avoid letting getting swept turn into a long-term losing streak. Bouncing back as soon as possible will be of the utmost importance.
The Twins will play a three-game series in New York against the Mets this week, with the first game scheduled for Tuesday. It will be interesting to see how they respond after their difficult recent series.