With a Minnesota win and a White Sox loss, the playoff window is still slightly cracked for Derek Shelton’s Twins+

The Minnesota Twins and their playoff chances are hanging on by a thread. We’re talking Lloyd Christmas, “So you’re telling me there’s a chance?” odds. After a streaky month of August that started with four straight losses, they saw streaks of three losses, three wins, three losses again followed by four straight. It was not a good stretch for the Twins who have been hanging around the AL Central all season. However, there still streams a glimmer of hope with the last 24 games of the regular season left ahead in September.

Last night, the Twins won their first game of the series against Detroit, winning 11-1 after two homers by Ryan Jeffers and the first career longball from Walker Jenkins. A sorely needed win for the Twins after losing 7 of their last 9. This cold stretch could not have come at a worse time for Minnesota as it dropped them back to 7.5 games out of first place starting the final month of the season. But wins cure all woes and the Twins are now faced with a very tall task if they want to be playing baseball throughout October.

With the Twins win, they picked up a full game in the standings after Chicago lost to Houston 6-3 Monday night, they now sit 6.5 games out. It is not an impossible feat to climb all the way out of that hole within 24 games, however, it is certainly not going to be an easy accomplishment. The Twins will have to have almost a 180-degree turnaround from August to September, but at the least they started it the way they needed to with back-to-back wins. They will also have their shot this weekend when they go to Chicago to play the Sox with a golden opportunity to close the gap even further. It will be tough, but not impossible as teams have overcome larger deficits before: