The second half of the Twins season finally getting underway on Friday after the nearly week-long All Star break.
The Twins make the short trek to Chicago and the friendly confines of Wrigley Field to begin a road series against the Cubs.
It is a season that began with some lower expectations, at least from the fans, coming off back-to-back disappointing seasons and a huge selloff of players at the trade deadline in 2025. And while the team has essentially the same record this year at the All Star break as they did last year - 48 wins this year compared to 47 last year - the team vibes are totally different.
The AL is definitely down a bit in 2026 and keeping the Twins in the playoff hunt. They're right in the mix for a wildcard slot, and only three games back of Chicago in the AL Central. The Twins are also playing some of their best ball of the season going into the break, winning eight of their last nine series.
Cubs broadcaster, and former Twins player, Ron Coomer gives a lot of credit to new manager Derek Shelton, who he says showed flashes of this while managing in Pittsburgh.
"Good, bad, or indifferent, their teams worked and worked real hard on fundamental baseball," Coomer said on the WCCO Morning News. "This guy's got it. If he ever gets a team where he's got players, you know, where you can compete, he's gonna be good. I thought when the Twins hired him, I thought that was a very good hire."
Twins get some surprising contributors
One of the key parts to this Twins season thus far is finding some relief from the bullpen and well one pitcher in particular has surprised many and that reliever Andrew Morris who explains some of the changes he has made in his game that has led to success on the mound.
"Yeah, I mean, it does play better," said Morris. "It's just easier to get, you know, getting count leverage. I think I was falling behind a lot when we were relying on the sweeper a lot. I wasn't feeling as comfortable with it. I was kind of searching for it a little bit and then, I think just throwing the cutter more often, getting leverage counts has helped a ton."
Morris picked up his third save before the All-Star break and has teamed up with Yoendrys Gómez to provide a powerful one-two punch on the back end of games.
There's been another pick-me-up for the Twins after a minor league assignment and reset earlier this year. Bobby Nightengale of the Minnesota Star Tribune tells WCCO's Matthew Coller this week that there's been a surprising resurgence for Royce Lewis.
"I think the send down to Triple-A was just a wake-up call for him," Nightengale said. "Obviously, he was struggling beforehand, wasn't really having competitive at-bats, strikeouts were piling up, and then he gets sent down and immediately responded.
Nightengale says a meeting between Lewis and his agent, Scott Boras, came with the suggestion to bring back his old swing that made him a number one overall draft pick by the Twins.
"Definitely a more, a way more productive version of him," Nightengale adds. "I mean, the Twins will live with what he's giving them and hitting back in the middle of the lineup. So you can see the energy back from him and I don't think it's a coincidence. Like, when he's going well, usually the vibes are pretty high."
The Twins offense has been the highest-scoring in the American League through the first half, and it helps to have surprises, but it also helps to have steadiness and that's what they've been getting from outfielder Trevor Larnach.
Larnach has really picked it up since being moved into the leadoff spot in Derek Shelton's batting order. He's hitting .344 in 26 games since taking the leadoff spot.
"He's been one of our most consistent hitters," Shelton said. I give him a ton of credit. It's not easy to go to the leadoff spot. Some people do not enjoy that and he has really thrived there. He's had consistent, just not only getting the hits, I mean, the fact that he's had just really professional at-bats I think is something that stands out."
Larnach has a .379 on-base percentage, a career-high through 80 games this season.
Smoke concerns in Chicago
Minnesota dealt with incredibly smoky skies on Wednesday and Thursday, and it's still very smoky up north, even as the metro area starts to see some relief.
But now Chicago is getting that wildfire smoke, and it's noticeable. Coomer said that it's an issue.
"We need the Windy City to be the Windy City to get this out of here," he says. "We have had this situation once before while I was here. We played the game and it was the same kind of situation. I anticipate it's bad, but it's not horrific. So, I gotta believe we're going to play tonight."
Twins TV broadcaster Glen Perkins, also speaking to the WCCO Morning News, says the air in Chicago is not good.
"Looking just across the block in downtown Chicago right now, it's very hazy," he told Tom Hauser on WCCO Friday morning. "Usually we can see the lake. That's not happening right now. It's very bad, it's very bad here. The good thing is we don't play until I think 7:05 tonight. Hopefully, it'll clear out. We haven't heard anything yet, so I guess for right now, no news is good news."
Minnesota Twins (48-49, third in the AL Central) vs. Chicago Cubs (54-42, second in the NL Central)
Chicago; Friday, 7:05 p.m. Pregame at 6:30 p.m. on 830 WCCO and the Audacy app (in-market only)
PITCHING PROBABLES: Twins: Bailey Ober (6-3, 4.40 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 51 strikeouts); Cubs: Colin Rea (7-5, 4.75 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, 70 strikeouts)
LINE: Cubs -138, Twins +114; over/under is 10 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Chicago Cubs open a three-game series at home against the Minnesota Twins on Friday.
Chicago has a 54-42 record overall and a 27-19 record at home. The Cubs rank fifth in the NL with 121 total home runs, averaging 1.3 per game.
Minnesota has gone 22-24 in road games and 48-49 overall. The Twins have the ninth-best team batting average in MLB play at .248.
Friday's game is the first meeting between these teams this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Pete Crow-Armstrong has 15 doubles, four triples and 21 home runs for the Cubs. Seiya Suzuki is 11 for 41 with three doubles and three home runs over the last 10 games.
Brooks Lee has 15 doubles, two triples and 14 home runs while hitting .249 for the Twins. Josh Bell is 11 for 39 with four doubles and three home runs over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Cubs: 6-4, .251 batting average, 5.11 ERA, outscored opponents by nine runs
Twins: 7-3, .258 batting average, 3.13 ERA, outscored opponents by 17 runs
INJURIES: Cubs: Hoby Milner: 15-Day IL (appendicitis), Riley Martin: 60-Day IL (elbow), Justin Steele: 60-Day IL (elbow), Matt Shaw: 10-Day IL (hand), Hunter Harvey: 60-Day IL (tricep), Edward Cabrera: 15-Day IL (hamstring), Ben Brown: 15-Day IL (neck), Porter Hodge: 60-Day IL (elbow), Ethan Roberts: 15-Day IL (forearm), Jameson Taillon: 15-Day IL (hamstring), Christopher Austin: 60-Day IL (knee), Cade Horton: 60-Day IL (forearm), Daniel Palencia: 15-Day IL (elbow), Shelby Miller: 60-Day IL (elbow)
Twins: Mick Abel: 60-Day IL (elbow), Anthony Banda: 60-Day IL (lat), Cole Sands: 15-Day IL (forearm), Garrett Acton: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Connor Prielipp: 15-Day IL (finger), Marco Raya: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Byron Buxton: 10-Day IL (hip), David Festa: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Pablo Lopez: 60-Day IL (elbow)
Chicago is dealing with much of the same air quality issues the Twin Cities did this week
Chicago is dealing with much of the same air quality issues the Twin Cities did this week
