Then they went 34-17 and made the playoffs, defeated Houston in the first round and pushed Cleveland to the brink in the divisional playoffs.
This season, the Tigers’ young players embraced elevated expectations and ran away with the division.
There is no reason this Twins’ roster can’t do something similar, now that Royce Lewis, Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton are healthy and producing offensively.
The Twins can’t justify trading assets to improve this team, but they won’t need outside help if they enter a brief phase of rare injury luck.
If the Twins can get their best players all healthy at the same time, here is what their roster could look like in the playoffs, in a league that looks wide open:
The Twins have All-Star-caliber players at almost every key position — ace, closer, setup men, center field, shortstop, third base, catcher and second base/utility (with Castro).