Souhan: Twins wait to see if end of a slump you’d never expect is salve for an injury you’d never anticipate

Think baseball is predictable? Then please explain:

• Kody Clemens becoming one of the most valuable Twins, right behind … Harrison Bader and Ty France.

• The Twins spending all of spring training intent on getting off to a fast start, only to play like one of the worst teams in baseball in April.

• The Twins, having destroyed all positive expectations, winning 16 of 18 during a May stretch.

• Royce Lewis, who had played like a superstar-in-training, going into a hitting slump last August … and having it last until June.

• Pablo López, perhaps the most durable of the recent-vintage Twins, going on the injured list for what might be three months.

If baseball were simple, Lewis’ resurgence would compensate for the loss of López. Baseball isn’t simple, but the Twins can dream.

Joe Ryan pitched well enough, the bullpen was dominant, and the Twins displayed the kind of lineup depth they will need to survive injuries to López and fellow starter Zebby Matthews.

The Twins are going to have to start winning more games 6-3, and Lewis’ recent surge might have to continue for that to happen.

On Aug. 12, 2024, Lewis had an OPS of 1.021 and the Twins were 66-52. They were all but guaranteed a playoff berth.

From Aug. 13, 2024, until the end of the season, Lewis hit one home run and had an OPS of .493, and the Twins executed one of the greatest collapses in franchise history.

Lewis started the 2025 season on the injured list. He played his first game of the season May 6. In May, he hit one home run and had an OPS of .403. A player who had seemed invulnerable to pressure, who had scoffed at the notion of slumps, was performing as if intent on proving the existence of voodoo.

There are three components to breaking out of a major slump: drawing walks, hitting the ball solidly, and getting rewarded when you put the ball in play. Suddenly, just when the Twins would have been justified in sending Lewis to the minors, he is doing all three.

López’s injury might be the largest threat the current Twins administration has faced.

They can’t replace him. Without Matthews, they will be recalling Simeon Woods Richardson.

The Twins are facing this crisis as their owners, the Pohlads, try to sell the team. That process likely means the Twins will not be making an expensive in-season acquisition.

That process also means that by the end of this season, new owners will be taking a fresh look at the organization. If the Twins don’t make the playoffs, they will have missed the postseason in four of the past five years.

Can Twins manager Rocco Baldelli imagine a future in which star players stay reasonably healthy?

“It’s a different kind of game than some of the other professional sports that we all love and watch,” he said. “The demanding nature of having to perform seven days a week for eight straight months puts a lot of stress on these guys.

“It’s not just our team, although I know that we’ve dealt with it our fair share. It’s going to be a part of the game, because what we ask these guys to do, you’ve got to be pretty special to do. The human body is probably not built to do it seven days a week for eight months. We’re probably not built to do anything seven days a week for eight months.