The Minnesota Twins have fired Rocco Baldelli as their manager after 7 seasons.
The Twins hired Baldelli prior to the 2019 season. In his inaugural season, Baldelli led the Twins to an AL Central title with 101 wins. But as with his predecessors Tom Kelly and Ron Gardenhire, the Twins could not get past the New York Yankees in that year's ALDS.
During the COVID shortened 2020 season, the Twins would reach the post-season again only to be swept by a sub-.500 Houston Astros team in the ALDS.
The Twins would miss the post-season in both 2021 and 2022 but would return in 2023. They would sweep the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL Wild Card Series which would be their first post-season triumph since 2002. But the Astros would dispense with the Twins in the ALDS yet again.
In 2024, the Twins appeared playoff bound yet again. On August 17th of that year, the club was 70-53. The Twins would go 12-27 the rest of the way while the Detroit Tigers roared their way into the post-season.
The Twins had a very promising start to 2025 highlighted by a 13-game winning streak in May. A month later, there will be a reversal of fortune as the Twins would lose 15 out of 18 games. The team would never recover and embarked upon a massive fire sale at the trade deadline at the end of July.
Baldelli finishes his tenure with the Twins with a winning record (527-505) but all things must come to an end. At 44, I have no doubt that Baldelli will get another chance to manage a big-league club.
The question now is who will pick up the pieces at Target Field.
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