Writing was on the wall, but awful week erased any playoff hope the Twins had

It took only one week for the Minnesota Twins to see their playoff hopes (what little there was) to be erased for good. Barring a miracle finish over the final six weeks of the regular season, the Twins are effectively dead in the hunt for postseason baseball in 2025.

The writing was already on the wall when Minnesota traded 10 core players at the July 31 trade deadline, but there was still a glimmer of hope when the Twins woke up Monday morning in New York with a chance to chase down the Yankees for the third and final wild-card spot in the American League playoff race.

Before the Aug. 11 series opener at Yankee Stadium, the Twins were 56-61, an uncomfortable-but-doable 5.5 games behind New York. Minnesota lost two of three to the Yankees and then got wiped off the face of the Earth by losing three of four at home to the Detroit Tigers.

That sent them spiraling into the baseball abyss, and after a day off Monday the Twins (58-66) enter play Tuesday a whopping NINE games out of a wild-card spot. The Yankees (67-57), Mariners (68-58) and Red Sox (68-58) are in a three-way tie for the three wild cards.

Not only are the Twins nine games out, but they also have five teams ahead of them — Guardians, Royals, Rangers, Rays and Angels — and all five are currently out of the playoff picture.

The only team that isn't a threat to jump the Twins in the American League is the Chicago White Sox, who at 45-80 are competing with the Colorado Rockies (36-89) for the worst record in the majors.

The Orioles (58-67) are only a half-game behind Minnesota, and the Athletic's (56-70) are within three games of jumping the Twins. Lo and behold, the Twins open a three-game series against the A's at Target Field on Tuesday night.

So, yeah, it's gotten ugly in a hurry and there are no signs of improvement for a Twins club that was dismantled at the trade deadline and has subsequently ran out of juice after squeezing out wins in five of seven games Aug. 3-10.

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