The race is effectively over in Minnesota, but the manager sees a final stretch built around the young players who will decide what comes next.
September baseball for the Minnesota Twins has turned into a nightly audition, and manager Derek Shelton sounds like a man who is enjoying the show.
Friday and Saturday in Anaheim told the story of the whole season in two games, one that put the future on display and one that showed exactly why this team is where it is, and through both of them the manager kept the conversation pointed at his kids.
That is a healthier way to spend the last week of a losing season than most clubs manage, and it is also the honest read on where this roster stands.
Both Sides
Friday night went about as well as a game can go.
Starter Connor Prielipp threw seven shutout innings with eight strikeouts in a 3-0 win, the most encouraging start of his young career, and center fielder Walker Jenkins went 3 for 4 with a seventh-inning homer.
Saturday flipped the script.
Minnesota built a 5-2 lead behind an RBI double from right fielder Luke Keaschall, a homer from shortstop Ryan Kreidler and another three trips on base for Jenkins, then watched the bullpen hand it all back in a 6-5 loss in 11 innings.
That combination, brilliant young position players and pitchers undercut by a shaky relief group, has defined the year.
It also explains why Shelton keeps steering postgame conversations toward development rather than standings.
The Manager's Case for the Kids
Shelton spent Friday night praising the poise of his 21-year-old center fielder, saying Jenkins has not changed at all through early struggles and calling that admirable for a player his age.
He also ran through the ages across his young outfield and lineup before making the bigger point about the season's last days.
"Over the next seven games, eight games, whatever we have left, it's really exciting to be able to watch these guys go about it," Shelton said after the shutout win.
The tryout runs deeper than the headliners.
Jenkins keeps looking more comfortable at the plate since his breakout against this same Angels club.
Keaschall keeps producing at the top of the order.
Shortstop Ben Ross and right fielder Alan Roden came up from St. Paul in the middle of the month to join the audition, and second baseman Royce Lewis, back from a shoulder scare earlier this month, has lined up at both second and first base this weekend as the club tests his versatility.
None of that is consolation-prize talk, because rosters really do get sorted in weeks like this one, when the pressure is off and clubs make their honest evaluations.
What the Last Days Are Really For
The season winds down through San Francisco and a closing home series against Texas, and none of it will put Minnesota back in the race.
What these games can change is the shape of next season.
Every at-bat Jenkins takes, every start the young arms make and every inning the bullpen either saves or spoils is information the front office will act on this winter.
Shelton is watching those games the way the fans should, with an eye on the roster this team is becoming rather than the one that fell short.
