2020 Minnesota Twins season

The 2020 Minnesota Twins season was the 60th season for the Minnesota Twins franchise in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, their 11th season at Target Field and the 120th overall in the American League. It was the team's second year under manager Rocco Baldelli.

2020 Minnesota Twins
American League Central Champions
League	American League
Division	Central
Ballpark	Target Field
City	Minneapolis, Minnesota
Record	36–24 (.600)
Divisional place	1st
Owners	Jim Pohlad
President of baseball operations	Derek Falvey
General managers	Thad Levine
Managers	Rocco Baldelli
Television	Fox Sports North (Dick Bremer, Bert Blyleven, Justin Morneau) (Marney Gellner) (Audra Martin)
Radio	WCCO, KMNB (Cory Provus, Dan Gladden)
Stats	ESPN.com BB-reference
← 2019 Seasons 2021 →

On March 12, 2020, MLB announced that because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the start of the regular season would be delayed by at least two weeks in addition to the remainder of spring training being cancelled.^[1] Four days later, it was announced that the start of the season would be pushed back indefinitely due to the recommendation made by the CDC to restrict events of more than 50 people for eight weeks.^[2] On June 23, commissioner Rob Manfred unilaterally implemented a 60-game season. Players reported to training camps on July 1 in order to resume spring training and prepare for a July 24 Opening Day.^[3] On the last day of the shortened 2020 season, the Twins clinched the American League Central division title for the second year in a row thanks to a loss by the Chicago White Sox.^[4] On September 29, the Twins lost Game One of the 2020 American League Wild Card Series to the Houston Astros. The game was their seventeenth consecutive postseason loss, which broke the record for the longest postseason losing streak in North American sports, passing the 1975-79 Chicago Blackhawks.^[5] The Twins were ultimately swept two games to zero in the best-of-three series, extending their record-breaking losing streak to eighteen games.

Season standings

v t e AL Central	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Minnesota Twins	36	24	0.600	—	24–7	12–17
Cleveland Indians	35	25	0.583	1	18–12	17–13
Chicago White Sox	35	25	0.583	1	18–12	17–13
Kansas City Royals	26	34	0.433	10	15–15	11–19
Detroit Tigers	23	35	0.397	12	12–15	11–20

v t e Division Leaders	W	L	Pct.
Tampa Bay Rays	40	20	0.667
Oakland Athletics	36	24	0.600
Minnesota Twins	36	24	0.600

v t e Division 2nd Place	W	L	Pct.
Cleveland Indians	35	25	0.583
New York Yankees	33	27	0.550
Houston Astros	29	31	0.483

v t e Wild Card teams (Top 2 teams qualify for postseason)	W	L	Pct.	GB
Chicago White Sox	35	25	0.583	+3
Toronto Blue Jays	32	28	0.533	—
Seattle Mariners	27	33	0.450	5
Los Angeles Angels	26	34	0.433	6
Kansas City Royals	26	34	0.433	6
Baltimore Orioles	25	35	0.417	7
Boston Red Sox	24	36	0.400	8
Detroit Tigers	23	35	0.397	8
Texas Rangers	22	38	0.367	10

Records vs. Opponents

2020 American League record v t e Source: MLB Standings Grid – 2020
Team	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIN	NL
Chicago	—	2–8	9–1	9–1	5–5	10–10
Cleveland	8–2	—	7–3	5–5	3–7	12–8
Detroit	1–9	3–7	—	4–6	4–6	11–7
Kansas City	1–9	5–5	6–4	—	5–5	9–11
Minnesota	5–5	7–3	6–4	5–5	—	13–7

Game log

Regular season

2020 game log: 36–24 (Home: 24–7 ; Away: 12–17)
July: 5–2 (Home: 3–1 ; Away: 2–1) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Record Streak 1 July 24 @ White Sox 10–5 May (1–0) Giolito (0–1) — 1–0 W1 2 July 25 @ White Sox 3–10 Keuchel (1–0) Dobnak (0–1) — 1–1 L1 3 July 26 @ White Sox 14–2 Maeda (1–0) López (0–1) — 2–1 W1 4 July 28 Cardinals 6–3 Bailey (1–0) Martínez (0–1) Romo (1) 3–1 W2 5 July 29 Cardinals 3–0 Hill (1–0) Ponce de Leon (0–1) Rogers (1) 4–1 W3 6 July 30 Indians 0–2 Bieber (2–0) Berríos (0–1) Karinchak (1) 4–2 L1 7 July 31 Indians 4–1 Dobnak (1–1) Clevinger (0–1) Rogers (2) 5–2 W1
August: 15–14 (Home: 9–3 ; Away: 6–11) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Record Streak 8 August 1 Indians 3–0 Maeda (2–0) Carrasco (1–1) Rogers (3) 6–2 W2 9 August 2 Indians 3–1 Smeltzer (1–0) Civale (1–1) Romo (2) 7–2 W3 10 August 3 Pirates 5–4 Rogers (1–0) Burdi (0–1) — 8–2 W4 11 August 4 Pirates 7–3 Berríos (1–1) Musgrove (0–3) May (1) 9–2 W5 12 August 5 @ Pirates 5–2 Dobnak (2–1) Williams (0–3) — 10–2 W6 13 August 6 @ Pirates 5–6 Howard (1–0) Rogers (1–1) — 10–3 L1 14 August 7 @ Royals 2–3 Holland (2–0) Wisler (0–1) Rosenthal (2) 10–4 L2 15 August 8 @ Royals 6–9 Zuber (1–1) Thorpe (0–1) Rosenthal (3) 10–5 L3 16 August 9 @ Royals 2–4 Singer (1–1) Berríos (1–2) Barlow (1) 10–6 L4 17 August 10 @ Brewers 4–2 Dobnak (3–1) Houser (1–1) Rogers (4) 11–6 W1 18 August 11 @ Brewers 4–6 Williams (1–1) Rogers (1–2) Hader (3) 11–7 L1 19 August 12 @ Brewers 12–2 Maeda (3–0) Lauer (0–2) — 12–7 W1 20 August 15 (1) Royals 4–2 (7) Duffey (1–0) Speier (0–1) Rogers (5) 13–7 W2 21 August 15 (2) Royals 2–4 (7) Duffy (1–2) Berríos (1–3) Rosenthal (5) 13–8 L1 22 August 16 Royals 4–2 Dobnak (4–1) Singer (1–2) Romo (3) 14–8 W1 23 August 17 Royals 4–1 Smeltzer (2–0) Bubic (0–3) — 15–8 W2 24 August 18 Brewers 4–3 (12) Alcalá (1–0) Phelps (2–2) — 16–8 W3 25 August 19 Brewers 3–9 Anderson (1–2) Hill (1–1) — 16–9 L1 26 August 20 Brewers 7–1 Berríos (2–3) Woodruff (1–2) — 17–9 W1 27 August 21 @ Royals 2–7 Duffy (2–2) Odorizzi (0–1) — 17–10 L1 28 August 22 @ Royals 7–2 Dobnak (5–1) Singer (1–3) — 18–10 W1 29 August 23 @ Royals 5–4 Clippard (1–0) Bubic (0–4) Rogers (6) 19–10 W2 30 August 24 @ Indians 3–2 Maeda (4–0) Civale (3–3) Rogers (7) 20–10 W3 31 August 25 @ Indians 2–4 Bieber (6–0) Alcalá (1–1) Hand (8) 20–11 L1 32 August 26 @ Indians 3–6 Maton (2–0) Romo (0–1) Hand (9) 20–12 L2 — August 27 @ Tigers Postponed (strikes due to shooting of Jacob Blake); Rescheduled to August 28 — August 28 (1) @ Tigers Postponed (rain); Rescheduled to August 29 — August 28 (2) @ Tigers Postponed (rain); Rescheduled to September 4 33 August 29 (1) @ Tigers 2–8 (7) Boyd (1–4) Dobnak (5–2) — 20–13 L3 34 August 29 (2) @ Tigers 2–4 (7) Skubal (1–1) Duffey (1–1) Soto (1) 20–14 L4 35 August 30 @ Tigers 2–3 Alexander (2–1) Maeda (4–1) Soto (2) 20–15 L5 36 August 31 White Sox 5–8 Foster (4–0) Rogers (1–3) Colomé (7) 20–16 L6
September: 16–8 (Home: 12–3 ; Away: 4–5) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Record Streak 37 September 1 White Sox 3–2 Thielbar (1–0) Cordero (0–2) Wisler (1) 21–16 W1 38 September 2 White Sox 8–1 Berríos (3–3) López (0–2) — 22–16 W2 39 September 4 (1) Tigers 2–0 (7) Dobnak (6–2) Boyd (1–5) Rogers (8) 23–16 W3 40 September 4 (2) Tigers ^[a] 3–2 (8) Romo (1–1) Jiménez (1–3) May (2) 24–16 W4 41 September 5 Tigers 4–3 Alcalá (2–1) Cisnero (1–2) — 25–16 W5 42 September 6 Tigers 8–10 Funkhouser (1–1) Romo (1–2) Garcia (1) 25–17 L1 43 September 7 Tigers 6–2 Pineda (1–0) Fulmer (0–1) — 26–17 W1 44 September 8 (1) @ Cardinals 7–3 (7) Berríos (4–3) Martínez (0–2) — 27–17 W2 45 September 8 (2) @ Cardinals 4–6 (7) Cabrera (3–1) Dobnak (6–3) Gallegos (4) 27–18 L1 46 September 11 Indians 3–1 Maeda (5–1) Bieber (7–1) Rogers (9) 28–18 W1 47 September 12 Indians 8–4 Hill (2–1) Plesac (3–2) — 29–18 W2 48 September 13 Indians 7–5 Thielbar (2–0) McKenzie (2–1) Romo (4) 30–18 W3 49 September 14 @ White Sox 1–3 Colomé (2–0) Rogers (1–4) — 30–19 L1 50 September 15 @ White Sox 2–6 Dunning (2–0) Dobnak (6–4) — 30–20 L2 51 September 16 @ White Sox 5–1 Stashak (1–0) Giolito (4–3) — 31–20 W1 52 September 17 @ White Sox 3–4 Heuer (3–0) Clippard (1–1) Colomé (12) 31–21 L1 53 September 18 @ Cubs 0–1 Hendricks (6–4) Hill (2–2) Jeffress (8) 31–22 L2 54 September 19 @ Cubs 8–1 Pineda (2–0) Mills (5–4) — 32–22 W1 55 September 20 @ Cubs 4–0 Berríos (5–3) Darvish (7–3) — 33–22 W2 56 September 22 Tigers 5–4 (10) Rogers (2–4) Garcia (2–1) — 34–22 W3 57 September 23 Tigers 7–6 Maeda (6–1) Mize (0–3) — 35–22 W4 58 September 25 Reds 2–7 Lorenzen (3–1) Berríos (5–4) — 35–23 L1 59 September 26 Reds 7–3 Clippard (2–1) Castillo (4–6) — 36–23 W1 60 September 27 Reds 3–5 Iglesias (4–3) Thielbar (2–1) — 36–24 L1
Legend:        = Win        = Loss        = Postponement Bold = Twins team member

Notes:

• ^a The Tigers are designated the home team for the makeup game from August 28.^[6]

Postseason

2020 Postseason: 0–2 (Home 0–2; Away 0–0)
American League Wild Card Series: 0−2 (Home 0–2; Away 0–0) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Record Streak 1 September 29 Astros 1–4 Valdez (1–0) Romo (0–1) — 0–1 L1 2 September 30 Astros 1–3 Javier (1–0) Stashak (0–2) Pressly (1) 0–2 L2

Postseason rosters

Playoff rosters

American League Wild Card Series Pitchers: 12 Jake Odorizzi 17 José Berríos 18 Kenta Maeda 21 Tyler Duffey 35 Michael Pineda 36 Tyler Clippard 37 Matt Wisler 54 Sergio Romo 55 Taylor Rogers 61 Cody Stashak 65 Trevor May 68 Randy Dobnak 72 Caleb Thielbar Catchers: 8 Mitch Garver 16 Alex Avila 39 Ryan Jeffers 64 Willians Astudillo Infielders: 2 Luis Arráez 9 Marwin González 11 Jorge Polanco 13 Ehire Adrianza 22 Miguel Sanó Outfielders: 20 Eddie Rosario 25 Byron Buxton 26 Max Kepler 76 Alex Kirilloff Designated hitters: 23 Nelson Cruz

Roster

2020 Minnesota Twins
Roster
Pitchers 66 Jorge Alcalá 15 Homer Bailey 17 José Berríos 36 Tyler Clippard 86 Edwar Colina 53 Danny Coulombe 68 Randy Dobnak 21 Tyler Duffey 38 Cory Gearrin 44 Rich Hill 52 Zack Littell 18 Kenta Maeda 65 Trevor May 12 Jake Odorizzi 35 Michael Pineda 71 Sean Poppen 55 Taylor Rogers 54 Sergio Romo 31 Devin Smeltzer 61 Cody Stashak 72 Caleb Thielbar 43 Lewis Thorpe 37 Matt Wisler		Catchers 64 Willians Astudillo 16 Alex Avila  8 Mitch Garver 39 Ryan Jeffers Infielders 13 Ehire Adrianza  2 Luis Arráez 74 Travis Blankenhorn 24 Josh Donaldson  9 Marwin González 11 Jorge Polanco 22 Miguel Sanó  4 Ildemaro Vargas		Outfielders 25 Byron Buxton 60 Jake Cave 26 Max Kepler 50 Brent Rooker 20 Eddie Rosario 30 LaMonte Wade Jr. 58 Aaron Whitefield Other batters 23 Nelson Cruz		Manager  5 Rocco Baldelli Coaches 27 Mike Bell (bench) 75 Nate Dammann (quality control) 46 Tony Diaz (third base) 67 Bill Evers (catching) 63 Rudy Hernandez (assistant hitting) 47 Wes Johnson (pitching) 97 Garrett Kennedy (bullpen catcher) 33 Bob McClure (bullpen) 98 Connor Olson (bullpen catcher) 84 Edgar Varela (hitting) 40 Tommy Watkins (first base)

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases; BB = Walks; AVG = Batting average; SLG = Slugging average

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	AVG	SLG
Eddie Rosario	57	210	31	54	7	0	13	42	3	19	.257	.476
Jorge Polanco	55	209	22	54	8	0	4	19	4	13	.258	.354
Miguel Sanó	53	186	31	38	12	0	13	25	0	18	.204	.478
Nelson Cruz	53	185	33	56	6	0	16	33	0	25	.303	.595
Marwin González	53	175	15	37	4	0	5	22	0	17	.211	.320
Max Kepler	48	171	27	39	9	0	9	23	3	22	.228	.439
Byron Buxton	39	130	19	33	3	0	13	27	2	2	.254	.577
Jake Cave	42	113	17	25	3	2	4	15	0	5	.221	.389
Luis Arráez	32	112	16	36	9	0	0	13	0	8	.321	.402
Ehire Adrianza	44	89	10	17	7	0	0	3	1	11	.191	.270
Josh Donaldson	28	81	14	18	2	0	6	11	0	18	.222	.469
Mitch Garver	23	72	8	12	1	0	2	5	0	7	.167	.264
Ryan Jeffers	26	55	5	15	0	0	3	7	0	5	.273	.436
Alex Avila	23	49	6	9	2	0	1	2	0	11	.184	.286
LaMonte Wade Jr.	16	39	3	9	3	0	0	1	1	4	.231	.308
Ildemaro Vargas	10	22	3	5	1	1	0	2	0	1	.227	.364
Brent Rooker	7	19	4	6	2	0	1	5	0	0	.316	.579
Willians Astudillo	8	16	4	4	1	0	1	3	0	0	.250	.500
Travis Blankenhorn	1	3	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	.333	.667
Aaron Whitefield	3	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000
Team Totals	60	1937	269	468	81	3	91	258	14	186	.242	.427

Source:[1]

Pitching

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits allowed; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; SO = Strikeouts

Player	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Kenta Maeda	6	1	2.70	11	11	0	66.2	40	20	20	10	80
José Berríos	5	4	4.00	12	12	0	63.0	57	28	28	26	68
Randy Dobnak	6	4	4.05	10	10	0	46.2	50	21	21	13	27
Rich Hill	2	2	3.03	8	8	0	38.2	28	13	13	17	31
Michael Pineda	2	0	3.38	5	5	0	26.2	25	10	10	7	25
Tyler Clippard	2	1	2.77	26	2	0	26.0	19	9	8	4	26
Matt Wisler	0	1	1.07	18	4	1	25.1	15	3	3	14	35
Tyler Duffey	1	1	1.88	22	0	0	24.0	13	6	5	6	31
Jorge Alcalá	2	1	2.63	16	0	0	24.0	21	8	7	8	27
Trevor May	1	0	3.86	24	0	2	23.1	20	11	10	7	38
Taylor Rogers	2	4	4.05	21	0	9	20.0	26	14	9	4	24
Sergio Romo	1	2	4.05	24	0	5	20.0	16	9	9	7	23
Caleb Thielbar	2	1	2.25	17	0	0	20.0	14	6	5	9	22
Lewis Thorpe	0	1	6.06	7	1	0	16.1	24	12	11	10	10
Devin Smeltzer	2	0	6.75	7	1	0	16.0	19	12	12	5	15
Cody Stashak	1	0	3.00	11	0	0	15.0	11	5	5	3	17
Jake Odorizzi	0	1	6.59	4	4	0	13.2	16	10	10	3	12
Homer Bailey	1	0	3.38	2	2	0	8.0	6	3	3	3	7
Sean Poppen	0	0	4.70	6	0	0	7.2	9	4	4	4	10
Zack Littell	0	0	9.95	6	0	0	6.1	12	7	7	3	3
Danny Coulombe	0	0	0.00	2	0	0	2.2	2	0	0	3	3
Cory Gearrin	0	0	0.00	1	0	0	2.0	0	0	0	2	1
Ehire Adrianza	0	0	9.00	1	0	0	1.0	1	1	1	0	0
Edwar Colina	0	0	81.00	1	0	0	0.1	4	3	3	2	0
Team Totals	36	24	3.58	60	60	17	513.1	448	215	204	170	535

Source:[2]

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Rochester Red Wings	International League	Toby Gardenhire
AA	Pensacola Blue Wahoos	Southern League	Ramon Borrego
A-Advanced	Fort Myers Mighty Mussels	Florida State League
A	Cedar Rapids Kernels	Midwest League	Brian Dinkelmam
Rookie	Elizabethton Twins	Appalachian League	Ray Smith
Rookie	GCL Twins	Gulf Coast League
Rookie	DSL Twins	Dominican Summer League

References

1. Mark Feinsand (March 12, 2020). "Opening Day delayed at least 2 weeks; Spring Training games cancelled". MLB.com. Major League Baseball. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
2. "Opening of regular season to be pushed back". MLB.com. Major League Baseball. March 16, 2020. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
3. Feinsand, Mark (June 24, 2020). "Play Ball: MLB announces 2020 regular season". MLB.com. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
4. . Fox 9. September 27, 2020. Archived from the original on October 10, 2020. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
5. "Twins' record postseason losing streak hits 18 with Minnesota swept by Astros in Wild Card Series".
6. "Tigers, Twins have doubleheader postponed because of weather". FoxSports.com. August 28, 2020. Retrieved August 30, 2020.

External links

• 2020 Minnesota Twins season at Baseball Reference