Following the 2017 trade deadline, the Twins went 35-24, the third-best record in the AL, and they scored the most runs in baseball. It was a good enough run to catapult them into the playoffs — albeit a short run, losing the AL Wild Card Game at Yankee Stadium despite jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning.
This season was their chance to build on that impressive second half, building around an exciting young core, and emerging fully into a contender. To put it kindly, it has not worked out as they had hoped.
So many things have gone wrong in the 612.