Minnesota Fallin'

The Twins are the winners of today's dubious twin honors: Worst in First and #1 Team on the Fall. That is, they are the worst team in first place in baseball and the team most showing signs of cardiac arrest.

Sure, Minnesota is 12th in baseball by win-loss percentage and first in the AL Central, but check out the rest of their vital signs:

- .992 runs scored for every 1 run allowed (#16 overall)
- in first place...in the second-worst division
- #16 in quality wins (location of the game + run ratio versus the rest of baseball)
- #20 in schedule difficulty
- 6-4 over the last ten games...but only ranked 15th over that same period because of four- and five-run losses to the White Sox (ranked #18 overall) and a couple of small wins against Detroit (#25 overall)
- by wins and losses only, the Twins are in the 66th percentile in baseball...but introducing runs scored/allowed and strength of schedule, Minnesota is ranked around 45%

Given the mediocre rankings in all facets of their performance, it comes as no surprise that Minnesota's overall rank is #17 and their playoff rank is #18 (stats specific to predicting future games).

The only bright sign for Minnesota is its upcoming schedule:
- @ Colorado Rockies (#26)
- Texas Rangers (#24)
- @ Detroit Tigers (#25)
- @ Kansas City Royals (#27)

If the Twins can't win three of these series, they're in serious trouble.