The title and the image here are AI generated. I wrote a piece about my thoughts on the Twins and then I gave an out line to AI to write a similar article and I am publishing both of them here and I am very curious what your thoughts are on the two articles, which would you prefer to read and why. So if you have a few minutes to spare please leave me a comment or two. The first article is the one I wrote, the second is the AI version.
Article 1
After 83 games the Minnesota Twins find themselves with a 40-43 record and in third place in the American League Central division trailing the league leading Detroit Tigers by 11.5 games and the second place Cleveland Guardians by one game and just one game ahead of the fourth place Kansas City Royals. There are four teams in the AL East and four teams in the AL West that have more wins than Minnesota does. Yet, the Twins and all the local Twins scribes seem to think the Twins are still in the running for a play-off spot.
Let’s get real folks, the 2025 Twins team has about as much of a chance of playing in post season as the Chicago White Sox and the Colorado Rockies do. The trade deadline is coming up and it will be interesting to see if Twins President Derek Falvey makes any moves. When he first started working for the Twins he stated that regardless of a teams standing at the deadline, moves should be made to improve the team and you do this by either being a buyer or a seller but you have nothing to gain by standing pat.
The 2025 Twins team does find itself in a unique situation in the fact that the Pohlad family that owns the team announced in October 2024 that the team is for sale putting the team between a rock and hard spot. Ownership doesn’t want to spend money on a team they want to sell not do they want to burden future buyers with long term deals.
Twins attendance this season is down almost 6% from last season and 2024 attendance was a low-water mark for the Twins at Target Field with the exception of 2020 when COVID kept fans from attending MLB games and 2021 when attendance was limited by MLB and ratcheted up slowly as the year progressed. July is almost here and that means the NFL teams including the Minnesota Vikings are getting ready to report to camps and start getting ready for their 2025 season. Once the Vikings start, interest in the Twins wanes, particularly when the team is playing poorly.
The 2025 Twins are a strange bunch. They started the season with four straight losses and it took them 26 games before they notched their tenth win of the season. Then in early May they go on a 13 game winning streak and go 18-8 in the month of May. June rolls around and with 2 games left in the month to play, they are 9-17.
As I said earlier, it is a strange team and you don’t know from day-to-day what you will see when you watch them play. So far in 2025 they have been out-scored 367 to 356. They had top notch pitching in May and just the opposite in June. The team has found itself seven games over .500 and eight games under .500. It has 21 come from behind wins and 18 blown leads. They have allowed 10 or more runs on seven occasions and scored 10 or more runs the same number of times.
The 2025 Twins payroll is about $149 million which put them about the middle of the MLB pack according to Spotrac. That said, only two teams with higher payroll, the Atlanta Braves with a payroll of just under $220 million and the Baltimore Orioles at $185.5 million have fewer wins than Minnesota.
The team has only four players making $10 million or more, Carlos Correa at $36 million, Pablo Lopez at $21.5 million, Byron Buxton at $15 million and Christian Vazquez at $10 million. These four players make over 55% of the Twins 26 man payroll (plus the five players on the IL). With the top four players $82.5 million, that leaves the remaining 27 players to share about $67,578,459. Spotrac shows 13 players making under $1million. With Correa and Vazquez playing sub par baseball, Lopez on the IL for most of the rest of the year things do not look like this team is playoff bound.
Manager Rocco Baldelli‘s current contract with the Minnesota Twins is a 3-year, $30 million deal signed in December 2022, according to Baseball Prospectus. The contract covers the 2023-2025 seasons. Some time this season, the Twins brain trust picked up their 2026 club option for Baldelli, according to Yahoo Sports.
There is something seriously wrong with this team and I certainly don’t know what that is, but, I feel confident in saying that Rocco Baldelli is not the right manager for this team at the present time. It makes no difference if it is Rocco’s fault or not, the bottom line is this team is not winning and history has shown us that when this happens you need to get a new spoon to stir the pot. Every team gets injuries and they fight on but how can you explain an entire team short of Byron Buxton and Joe Ryan playing so poorly? I have followed the Twins through thick or thin since 1961 and I will probably continue being a Twins fan until I pass on, but it sure would be more fun watching a team and an organization that wants to win versus just fielding a team that is plays .500 or less baseball. Believe me when I tell you that the 2025 Twins are not a fun baseball team to watch. I will continue to watch the Twins but whenever they play bad baseball (all too often these days) I am glad that the TV remote is close at hand.
Article 2
As the Minnesota Twins pass the halfway mark of the 2025 season, their record sits at 40–43. That’s good for third place in a weak AL Central, 11.5 games behind the first-place Tigers and one game back of the Guardians. The Royals are just a game behind. To put it in context, four teams each from the AL East and AL West have more wins than Minnesota—yet some local media outlets and team spokespeople still peddle the idea that the Twins are in the playoff race.
Let’s be blunt: this team has about as much chance at postseason glory as the White Sox or Rockies. The Twins should either act like contenders or acknowledge where they are and plan accordingly. Doing nothing at the trade deadline shouldn’t be an option—especially since Derek Falvey once preached that standing pat was the worst move a team could make.
But 2025 isn’t a typical year. Last October, the Pohlad family announced their intent to sell the team. That decision has left the front office in a holding pattern—unwilling to spend and unable to commit, for fear of burdening future ownership. No surprise then that fan attendance is down nearly 6% from 2024—a year that already marked a new low for Target Field (excluding the pandemic-restricted seasons of 2020 and 2021).
And July is here, which in Minnesota means one thing: the Vikings are about to reclaim the spotlight. Once training camp begins, Twins buzz fades fast—especially when the on-field product is this erratic.
A Season Defined by Inconsistency
This has been one strange ballclub. They opened with four straight losses, didn’t reach 10 wins until their 26th game, then flipped the script in May with a 13-game winning streak and an 18–8 record. June, though, has been a mess: 9–17 with two games left to play.
The Twins have been seven games above .500 and eight games below. They’ve had 21 come-from-behind wins—but also 18 blown leads. They’ve scored 10 or more runs in seven games… and allowed 10 or more in seven games, too. The run differential? They’ve been outscored 367 to 356. This is the definition of a .500 team with identity issues.
Payroll Imbalance and Underperformance
The Twins’ $149 million payroll ranks near the middle of the league, but you wouldn’t know it from the results. Only two teams with higher payrolls—Atlanta and Baltimore—have fewer wins. Nearly 55% of the payroll is tied up in four players: Carlos Correa ($36M), Pablo López ($21.5M), Byron Buxton ($15M), and Christian Vázquez ($10M). López is sidelined for most of the year, Correa and Vázquez have underachieved, and the supporting cast is largely made up of players making under $1 million.
Leadership and Accountability
Manager Rocco Baldelli is under contract through 2025, with a club option for 2026 already picked up. But let’s be honest: this team isn’t responding, and whether it’s Rocco’s fault or not, something isn’t clicking. Every team deals with injuries. Good teams fight through it. And beyond Joe Ryan and Byron Buxton, this roster has felt flat, confused, and unmotivated.
At some point, the message grows stale—and this version of the Twins seems to need a new voice. A new identity. A clean break.
Still Watching, Still Waiting
I’ve been following this team since 1961, through thick and thin, and I won’t stop now. But it sure would be refreshing to support a club that plays like it wants to win, not just go through the motions. Right now, the 2025 Twins feel like a placeholder—both in the standings and in the ownership’s priorities.
I’ll keep watching. But I’m grateful the TV remote is always within reach.
Very little difference in both, John.
This makes AI scary in that it can mimic the words of actual writers and sound unrobotic (if that is a word).
But, as AI is an amalgamation of various written material, doesn’t that mean that the human element of the written word is assured as without a backsources , it will then be nothing more than what Rosie the Robot in the Jetsons sounded like.
I feel your pain, John. The Red Sox se son almost mirrors the Twins. The quality of play can turn that casual fan, Middy Ocrity, to turn off the clicker and find other pastime ventures.
Baseball is a unique game and like summer itself provides a backdrop to the
lazy, hazy days of the season.
t