Twins in free fall before the last week of the regular season

Although no one realized it at the time, the Twins' season reached its peak five weeks ago, around 3 p.m. on a quiet Sunday afternoon in Arlington, Texas.

The Twins had moved to within two games of the top of the American League Central, just a half-game away from having the best record in the American League, and their wild-card spot was five games long and growing. After Pablo López pitched six scoreless innings while his teammates built a 4-0 lead against the Rangers, the Twins were nine outs short of defeating the defending World Series champions.

“I always say you're never as good as you look when things are going right, and you're never as bad as when things are going wrong,” said Derek Falvey, the Twins' president of baseball operations. “We've lived through the first part. Now…” he said, leaving the second part unsaid but understandable – because that's when chaos broke out.

It still hasn't let up.

Jorge Alcalá replaced López, and everything changed for that game and, oddly enough, for the entire Twins season. Leody Taveras hit a single on the second pitch he saw, and Marcus Semien and Corey Seager hit doubles on the first pitch. Josh Smith flied out, but Adolis Garcia hit a long home run.

After nine pitches in the inning, the Twins' four-run lead was gone. Ten pitches later, Josh Jung's home run put Texas ahead and the Rangers finally completed their comeback victory with a 6-5 win in ten innings.

Five weeks and 21 losses in 32 games later, the Twins have fallen to fourth place in their own division and are out of one of the American League's six playoff spots with six games left in the regular season.

“It's been a wild year,” said Twins manager Rocco Baldelli, whose team will play three games at Target Field against the last-place Miami Marlins starting Tuesday and then three games over the weekend against the Orioles, who are currently in playoff contention. “You have exceptional pitchers throughout the division. If your offense doesn't have a really good day, there are a lot of starters and a lot of bullpen pitchers that can shut you down.”