The Twins scored 4.19 runs per game in 2025, a figure that is not going to win you many games, and so it didn’t as the club finished well out of the running in the AL Central at 70-92.
And given that team ownership appears to be in a cost-cutting frame of mind — what else explains the 10 players traded at the deadline? — the Twins likely will take the field in 2026 looking a lot like the 2025 team.
And if that’s the case, and the Twins continue to struggle to score runs, they are going to need a manager who has no problem doing whatever it takes to win games. And that means stealing bases, laying down the bunt and calling on just about anyone to pinch hit.
Former Twins manager Gene Mauch sets a good example.
In 1980, which would be Mauch’s last season with the Twins, he had very little to work with. The club had a team batting average of .265, which is not bad, but absolutely no power as the Twins hit only 99 home runs, the third fewest in the American League.
Somewhat puzzlingly, the Twins also didn’t strike out that often — they had the fourth fewest whiffs at 703 — but they also didn’t walk at all, generating the second fewest base on balls at 436. So, they put the ball in play and hit into 151 double plays, fourth most in the AL that season.
They also were shut out 12 times.
So what’s a manager to do? You move runners over the old-fashioned way with sacrifice hits, and the Twins had 92 in 1980, third most in the league.
Mauch did all he could in a three-game series on the road against the Chicago White Sox in May 19-21, 1980. The three games featured 11 pinch hitters and three sacrifice hits and yet the Twins lost 1-0 and 4-2, but finally prevailed 3-2 in the final game.
The win went to Geoff Zahn, who tossed a complete game seven-hitter, allowing just the two runs.
“I believe in giving credit where credit is due,” said White Sox Manager Tony LaRussa to the Chicago Tribune. “And the truth of it was that Zahn worked us over pretty good.
“(Steve) Trout pitched well enough to win,” LaRussa said. “This was the second straight time he gave up only three runs and we couldn’t do anything for him offensively. But Zahn deserved his victory.”
Extra innings…
–Did Mauch bunt a lot with the Twins? He sure did. The Twins led the American League in sacrifice hits with 93 in 1976, 109 in 1978 and 142 in 1979. Again, these were not strong teams, but Mauch produced winning records in all but two of his five seasons at the helm.
–Another name has emerged as a possible manager for the Twins, although this name feels like it was pulled out of a hat. MLB.com, citing a San Francisco Chronicle story, is reporting that former catcher and ex-Twin Kurt Suzuki has been linked to the job. This seems very unlikely to me because Suzuki hasn’t had a connection to the Twins in 10 years. He last played for the Twins in 2016 and exited the game after the 2022 season.
Source: Newspapers.com, Baseball-Reference.com