5 Twins Predictions Certain to Come True in September

[Cody Christie]

Baseball’s final weeks can be an exciting time for contending teams as they fight for limited playoff spots. Here are five Twins predictions certain to come true in September.

Predictions can be fickle when it comes to baseball, but things become more apparent as the season progresses. Players and teams have performed to a certain level at this point in the season, and those trends may or may not hold true over the final weeks. How many of the predictions below will come true?

Luis Arraez Wins His First Batting Title
August was Arraez’s worst offensive month of the 2022 season as he hit under .270. Luckily, many other AL hitters also struggled in recent weeks. Arraez ended August leading the AL’s batting race by nine points over Jose Abreau, with Xander Bogaerts sitting one point behind in third. To help Minnesota’s offense, the Twins need Arraez to get back to the players he was in the season’s first half. 

Jhoan Duran Leads the AL in WPA
Duran has been dominant in his rookie campaign as he quite literally helped save the Twins bullpen. Following the trade deadline, Rocco Baldelli has used Duran in the game’s most pivotal moments, which has helped increase his Win Probability Added. Duran currently leads all AL pitchers according to WPA, as he currently sits ahead of Justin Verlander and Emmanuel Clase. Minnesota will have close games down the stretch, and Duran’s WPA total will continue to rise. 

Max Kepler Wins the Gold Glove
Minnesota’s defense has significantly improved in the season’s second half, with multiple players putting themselves in the Gold Glove conversation. Kepler has been near the top of the AL’s SDI rankings for right fielders throughout the season and has a chance to finish atop the leaderboard. He should easily be a Gold Glove finalist and has a chance to become the team’s first Gold Glove winner since 2017. 

Chicago Will Be a Thorn in Minnesota’s Side
The White Sox were supposed to run away with the AL Central, but not much has gone right on Chicago’s Southside. Minnesota has three September series against Chicago, and the White Sox have a chance to play spoiler. One thing to keep an eye on is how the White Sox respond without their manager Tony Larussa, who stepped away from the team due to a medical issue. If they want to win the division, the Twins have to win a majority of their games against the AL Central in the season’s final month. 

The Twins Will Win the AL Central
Cleveland has taken over the division lead in recent weeks, but Minnesota has eight games left against the Guardians. From September 16-19, the Twins play five games in four days in Cleveland which will likely decide the division winner. There is an outside shot that the Twins can win a Wild Card spot if they fail to overtake Cleveland, but that is significantly less likely than winning the division. The AL Central will have one playoff team, which will be the team that walks away with the division title. 

What predictions do you have for the season’s final weeks? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion. 

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[Peter]

Agreed on all 5!!! Especially if with twins winning division which I think happens on last day!!! 

[mikelink45]

Such optimism.  After last night's loss and the comedy act the night before I am not in the mood to make such prediction, especially the Twins winning the division.  The only way I want to see us go in the playoffs is if they extend the field some more and we can play Detroit, KC, Boston, or SF.  

[terrydactyls]

Twins vs. Guardians?  There's an old saying: "good pitching beats good hitting."  Cleveland has good pitching but the Twins only have so-so hitting.  That does not bode well for the Twins.

[Dave The Dastardly]

Arraez gets the title, Duran gets ignored, Kepler gets the finger, the Twins make the playoffs on a fluke play, Buxton sits through the playoff series on "planned" rest days, Correa chokes but opts to return for another year, Miranda moves to lead-off, Arraez bats 9th, Gordon is moved to the bull pen, Rocco is awarded his Rest Home Administrator's License, half the Twins fans are livid, the other half despondent, Minnesota gets hit with its earliest blizzard ever and everyone is happy their snowmobiles start, the Vikings occasionally win a game and nobody runs out of hard liquor.

Minnesota - it's not for everyone.

[TopGunn#22]

After last night's pathetic effort I'd take any and all five if they were guaranteed.  

[gman]

Not taking any bets.

[mikelink45]

“We’re gonna find out what we’re made of,” Boone said Saturday. “We’re as deep in adversity as you can get. A lot of people out there are really mad. What’s our response? We’re in control of it. It’s on us to do it. It’s there to do it.”  

My prediction - the Twins come in an resuscitate the ailing Yankees.  Hopefully we will get a thank you card.

[JD-TWINS]

1 hour ago, Dave The Dastardly said:

Arraez gets the title, Duran gets ignored, Kepler gets the finger, the Twins make the playoffs on a fluke play, Buxton sits through the playoff series on "planned" rest days, Correa chokes but opts to return for another year, Miranda moves to lead-off, Arraez bats 9th, Gordon is moved to the bull pen, Rocco is awarded his Rest Home Administrator's License, half the Twins fans are livid, the other half despondent, Minnesota gets hit with its earliest blizzard ever and everyone is happy their snowmobiles start, the Vikings occasionally win a game and nobody runs out of hard liquor.

Minnesota - it's not for everyone.

Wonderful piece of writing………hang on Minnesotans!!

[Karbo]

I sure hope they win a very winnable division. If they don't its time for a new manager!

[mikelink45]

I made the mistake of going to mlb.com this morning and watching the shortened replay of Cease near no-hitter - luckily not the Nick Gordon inning and then I watched the last inning of the previous game with our closer on the mound!  After this I predict the Twins will all come out wearing bags on their heads and switching uniform numbers.  No matter how the rest of games go this is a terrible embarrassment and the way that Rocco managed the game, pulling hitters, using Gordon and then relieving him with Palacios was insulting.  

[David Maro]

Wishful Thinking on at least 3 of the 5!! Kepler hopes he wins a Gold Glove because like Correa he's hoping to take a walk because he can't hit. Arraez needs a day off or he will be under .300 by mid week. Going to the playoffs will be over next Sunday we don't have the pitching and we don't play baseball.

[Reptevia]

The only way the Twins don’t finish 3rd is if CLE continues to choke. 

[Florida Flash]

Just now, Karbo said:

I sure hope they win a very winnable division. If they don't its time for a new manager!

For sure a new FO!!!!! If we get a new manager, hire a baseball guy that never heard of a spreadsheet.

[dxpavelka]

3 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Such optimism.  After last night's loss and the comedy act the night before I am not in the mood to make such prediction, especially the Twins winning the division.  The only way I want to see us go in the playoffs is if they extend the field some more and we can play Detroit, KC, Boston, or SF.  

And as bad as last night was we're still exactly ONE game out of first.

[dxpavelka]

11 minutes ago, Reptevia said:

The only way the Twins don’t finish 3rd is if CLE continues to choke. 

And what has Cleveland done recently to lead you to believe they WON'T continue to choke?

[PDX Twin]

My prediction: Entire division under .500. Perhaps difficult because the leaders play each other so often.

At this point, I don't really care much who wins. It's kind of like a "race" between crippled horses to see who gets to enter (and finish last in) the Kentucky Derby.

[The Mad King]

I wish I had your optimism

[HerbieFan]

  I'm not an eternally optimistic or pessimistic Twins fan.  What I am is a realistic Twins fan.  Here are my 5:

1) Arraez wins batting title

2) Duran and Miranda both finish top 6 in ROY voting

3) Twins finish below .500 and in 3rd place

4) Mahle misses the rest of 2022

5) Buxton joins Mahle and misses the rest of 2022

[Blyleven2011]

6 hours ago, HerbieFan said:

  I'm not an eternally optimistic or pessimistic Twins fan.  What I am is a realistic Twins fan.  Here are my 5:

1) Arraez wins batting title

2) Duran and Miranda both finish top 6 in ROY voting

3) Twins finish below .500 and in 3rd place

4) Mahle misses the rest of 2022

5) Buxton joins Mahle and misses the rest of 2022

Sounds about right  ,  only thing other is division winner will have a sub 500 record  ,,, there all playing bad baseball  ...

[twinfan]

Everything is in the Twins hands. But their schedule is tougher than Cleveland's and our relievers must do the job. However, if they can split the Yankee series and beat Cleveland at least 5 of the games against them then beat the Sox in at least 3 of the 6 against them, we can take it. The problem may be that Cleveland finishes with KC and we finish with Chicago.  However, I don't have much confidence in our bullpen or how Rocco is handling it. But maybe prayer helps. As for Arraez, I was actually hoping Cease would get his no-no since the game was lost but was glad that Arraez could get a hit. Bogey is red hot now while Luis is tired and the teams know how to play him better but I'm hoping he can get back on track. The other predictions are kinda dumb because how can the White Sox be a thorn in our side yet we win the Central? And Rocco doesn't use Duran properly and Kepler, though good, won't be considered for a gold glove because, get this, he doesn't hit enough. Happy Labor Day.

[Reptevia]

On 9/4/2022 at 11:11 AM, dxpavelka said:

And what has Cleveland done recently to lead you to believe they WON'T continue to choke?

Well, they did just sweep the Twins. Chicago will catch and pass them. 

[dxpavelka]

4 hours ago, Reptevia said:

Well, they did just sweep the Twins. Chicago will catch and pass them. 

Much easier to make that reply a week later.

[ashbury]

6 minutes ago, dxpavelka said:

Much easier to make that reply a week later.

Sure, and I don't care much for I-told-you-so's, but,

• An article titled "5 Twins Predictions Certain to Come True" begs to be revisited, and
• It took only a week, not the month for winning the AL Central to look like a longshot rather than a certainty

[dxpavelka]

3 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Sure, but,

• An article titled "5 Twins Predictions Certain to Come True" begs to be revisited, and
• It took only a week, not the month for winning the AL Central to look like a longshot rather than a certainty

Dropped three and a half games in the standings in a week.  No reason can't gain four and a half in three weeks.  T

[ashbury]

3 minutes ago, dxpavelka said:

No reason can't gain four and a half in three weeks. 

What kind of odds would you consider fair?  50-50?  I'll stand by my characterization.

[Reptevia]

I predicted 3rd place and 83 wins. I stand by 3rd place. The 83 appears to be optimistic. 

[dxpavelka]

19 hours ago, ashbury said:

What kind of odds would you consider fair?  50-50?  I'll stand by my characterization.

It's almost like you're not even familiar with the game.

[ashbury]

2 hours ago, dxpavelka said:

It's almost like you're not even familiar with the game.

So you think it's 50-50 they gain four and a half in three weeks?

[dxpavelka]

On 9/12/2022 at 10:20 PM, ashbury said:

So you think it's 50-50 they gain four and a half in three weeks?

Must have missed where I put a percentage on it.  I'm just saying there's a chance.