Welcome to The Opener, where every weekday morning during the regular season you’ll get a fresh, topical story to start your day from one of SI.com’s MLB writers.
A year ago at this time, the writing was already on the wall.
On this date last season, the Twins sat in last place of a mediocre division at 18–29, and in little more than two months’ time, they would part ways with established players José Berríos, Nelson Cruz, J.A. Happ and Hansel Robles in a trade deadline sell-off that preceded a last-place finish.