2018 Minnesota Twins

2018 Minnesota Twins / Franchise: Minnesota Twins / BR Team Page

Record: 78-84, finished 2nd in AL Central Division (2018 AL)

Managed by Paul Molitor

Coaches: Garvin Alston, Gene Glynn, Eddie Guardado, Rudy Hernandez, Jeff Pickler, James Rowson, Derek Shelton and Jeff Smith

Ballpark: Target Field

History, Comments, Contributions

After surprising just about everyone by making it to the Wild Card Game in 2017, the 2018 Minnesota Twins were under pressure to duplicate the good results from the previous season. They could count on a very athletic young team, and had also taken advantage of a slow free agent market to add some veterans at a discount, such as Ps Lance Lynn, Jake Odorizzi, Addison Reed, Fernando Rodney and Zach Duke and 1B/DH Logan Morrison. However, just as the team was about to break camp, it received some very bad news when starting SS Jorge Polanco was served with an 80-game suspension for violating the major league rules on PEDs.

The Twins had a good first week, starting off 4-2 and were briefly in first place in the AL Central, but things began to unravel after that, with bad weather also wreaking havoc with their schedule. From April 20th to May 1st, the Twins lost 11 of 12 games to find themselves with a record of 9-16. One of the first bright spots of the season came on May 2nd, when rookie Fernando Romero, the team's top pitching prospect, had a successful debut, blanking the Toronto Blue Jays for 5 1/3 innings to lead the team to a 4-0 win that stopped the ugly skid.

Awards and Honors

• All-Star: Jose Berrios

Further Reading

• Associated Press: "Destination Minnesota: Twins an attractive place to be", USA Today Sports, March 22, 2018. [1]
• Mark Feinsand: "No rush: Twins' window is just opening: Though some are calling for club to make a FA splash, Minnesota is set up for long-term success", mlb.com, February 27, 2018. [2]

2018 MLB season by team