UNHAPPY BONUS: The end of this newsletter features an essay about the Twins and their struggles, which I didn’t really want to write — but circumstances dictated that I do it. These are unhappy times for the team and even unhappier times for people who care about the team.
WHAT THE VIKINGS PROVED: Honestly, not very much despite their thrilling comeback win over the Bears. One game against a team with a track record of being its own worst enemy isn’t reason enough to start a Super Bowl-ticket fund. But it was evidence that J.J. McCarthy brings leadership beyond what you’d expect from a first-time starter and Brian Flores is Minnesota’s coaching gift that keeps on giving. The Bears couldn’t get untracked against his plain-yogurt defensive calls in the first hall and then in the second half, when the Vikings defense turned up the heat, Chicago had no answer beyond giving up the lead and the game.
ON McCARTHY: Via Dane Mizutani at Pioneer Press. His fourth quarter performance earned McCarthy the NFC Offensive Players of the Week award in his first start as a pro. It erased three quarters that had turned my social media feeds into a basement of grumbling fans who’d been watching a stumbling team. VERBATIM: “Whether it was threading the needle on a touchdown pass to Justin Jefferson, demonstrating his improved layering on a touchdown pass to Aaron Jones, or showing off his athleticism on a touchdown run that proved to be the difference, McCarthy was otherworldly down the stretch. In the process, McCarthy proved that he’s somebody the Vikings can believe in. . . . ‘We don’t win this game unless J.J. plays the way he did,’ head coach Kevin O’Connell said. ‘Now we know it’s possible.’ “ MORE: https://fluence-media.co/jj0911
FUN ONE: Via Michael Rand at Star Tribune. RandBall has created a “motivational schedule” for McCarthy, a reason he should be fired up for every regular season game — ranging from matchups against Sam Darnold and Aaron Rodgers to the Vikings’ version of Michigan vs. Ohio State. READ IT: https://fluence-media.co/randball0911
SMITH SPEAKS: Via Kevin Seifert at ESPN. Veteran Vikings safety Harrison Smith spoke to the media for the first time since being sidelined by an health matter that neither he nor the Vikings have disclosed. Over the weekend, he practiced with the team for the first time since August 11. VERBATIM: “Smith declined to be specific about the nature of the issue other than to say it was ‘physical’ -- as opposed to a mental health matter. . . . ‘I'm just trying to get my conditioning up,’ he said. ‘I'm going to go out there and see how much I can handle and go from there. I've already moved around, and I'm moving around well. It's just volume and conditioning.’ The Vikings did not place Smith on injured reserve when the season began, indicating they hoped Smith's recovery timetable would be shorter than the four-game minimum absence required for players on IR. MORE: https://fluence-media.co/smith0911
COUSINS COMES TO TOWN: Via Josh Kendall at The Athletic. Benched in favor of second-year quarterback Michael Penix Jr., Kirk Cousins is playing the good teammate role as the experienced backup, even though he (and most everyone else) expected that he would be Atlanta’s QB for several seasons after signing with the team in March 2024 — little more than a month before the Falcons stunned the NFL by drafting Penix in the first round. Kendall’s story goes deep on all that led up to the draft dramatics, and offered an assessment of Cousins’ status in Atlanta. VERBATIM: “The Falcons would be willing to trade Cousins during the season, but their asking price is considered high by many around the league, according to a league source. Cousins has a no-trade clause and would only be willing to approve a deal to a small number of teams. The expectation is he’ll finish the season in Atlanta, a league source said.” FULL STORY: https://fluence-media.co/cousins0911
VIKINGS VS. FALCONS: 7:20 p.m. Sunday kickoff on NBC, Peacock, KFAN and the Vikings Audio Network. Vikings depth chart | Real-time betting info, match-ups | Falcons web site
BUXTON, RYAN LASH OUT: Via Pioneer Press and Star Tribune.
BUXTON: Via Betsy Helfand at Pioneer Press. VERBATIM: “As Buxton nears age 32 with three years to go on his $100 million contract, the idea of another deep rebuild is unappealing, especially if it takes more than, say, one offseason. Questions about ownership’s long- and short-term plans, and how they relate to improving the active roster, make Buxton wonder. . . . ‘I ain’t treading water,’ Buxton said. ‘I won’t do that. It’s all about winning for me. I ain’t a person who’s going to be walking on my toes or anything like that to satisfy anybody. I want to win.’ ” MORE: http://fluence-media.co/buxton0911
RYAN: Via Phil Miller at Star Tribune. Joe Ryan believes not keeping Sonny Gray after the 2023 season, when he finished second in Cy Young Award balloting, was the spark that triggered the Minnesota meltdown. VERBATIM: “In my opinion, that goes down as the biggest mistake we have made since I’ve been here. He wanted to come back. He loved it here.” MORE: “There were a lot of avenues we could have gone down, but if we had re-signed Sonny, I can guarantee we would have been in the playoffs last year, and we’d probably be in a better spot this year. He was a top-notch guy, a great pitcher, incredible competitor, great guy in the clubhouse. I learned so much from him. We missed him last year.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/ryan0911
BALDELLI ON RYAN: Via Helfand. “I don’t think (that’s) productive. And that’s kind of pessimistic, after-the-fact thinking. Talking about all of the transactional what-ifs that we could have done is not for me and will never be for me.”
GOPHERS CHALLENGE: Via San Francisco Standard. If the Gophers defeat Cal on Saturday night (9:30 p.m., ESPN) to go 3-0, it will be because they quash some of the hype around Cal’s true-freshman quarterback. The left-handed Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele is already drawing (premature) comparisons to some of the Golden Bears quarterbacking greats based on wins over Oregon State and Texas Southern. Reading and watching, it’s a bit like the early hype around Gophers sophomore Koi Perich. VERBATIM: “After star quarterback Fernando Mendoza departed for Indiana, it’s on Sagapolutele to keep the momentum going. He’s the first true freshman quarterback to start Cal’s season opener since Jared Goff and has a chance to etch himself in a lineage including Aaron Rodgers, Steve Bartkowski, Mike Pawlawski, and Joe Kapp. Whether or not Sagapolutele eventually joins Cal’s all-time great passers, he’s their hope at the moment.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/cal0911
ON LINDSEY: I’ve seen just enough of Gophers quarterback Drake Lindsey to be really intrigued as he prepares for his first significant test in the game at Cal. He was efficient against Buffalo and got the Gophers off to a 49-0 lead in less than 20 minutes against woeful Northwestern State, long enough to complete all but one of his nine passes before turning the game over to his back-ups. The redshirt freshman looks to have benefited from his understudy year with Max Brosmer and summer workouts in Woodbury with McCarthy. The bigger tests ahead: (1) Like the Gophers, Cal hasn’t really been tested in its wins over Oregon State and Texas Southern. So I’m antsy for the Big Ten schedule, which starts a week from Saturday against Rutgers and former U quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis followed by a trip to Ohio State. Two different tests that are sure to shape public opinion. (2) If Lindsey turns out to be that good, will his home-state boosters in Arkansas — or another fat-budget program — make plays to pry him away from Minnesota?
QUARTERBACK WAR! Lindsey vs. Sagapolutele. Let’s go. Gophers depth chart | Real-time betting info, match-ups | Cal football web site.
SAINT JOHN’S > GOPHERS FOE: ESPN’s college football analyst Bill Connelly uses a formula based on stats and results to rank all 766 college football program in the nation. After Minnesota’s 66-0 prove-little win over Northwestern State, Connelly ranked the Demons at No. 325. Saint John’s, which opens its season Saturday vs. Minnesota-Morris, is No. 289. D-II schools Minnesota State (207), UMD (208) and Minnesota State-Moorhead (319) are also ranked ahead of Northwestern State. Who’s No. 766? FULL RANKINGS: https://fluence-media.co/ranks0911
DID VIKINGS MESS UP? Via Steven Ruiz at The Ringer. Based on Week 1, it looks like the Vikings could have solved their No, 2 quarterback issue by taking Daniel Jones more seriously. Jones joined the Vikings for the final weeks of last season, but never got on the field before becoming a free agent. After signing with Indianapolis, he took the starting job when Anthony Richardson was awful at training camp. VERBATIM: “We could have a possible Sam Darnold situation brewing in Indianapolis, where Daniel Jones led the Colts to a 33-8 beatdown of the Dolphins on Sunday. Jones completed 22 of 29 passes for 272 yards (an impressive 9.7 yards per attempt) and a touchdown. Jones also ran for 26 yards and looked fast for the first time since his 2022 season with the Giants. The confidence in his deep ball also seemed to be back, as he connected on a handful of downfield throws.” MORE PLUS VIDEO: https://fluence-media.co/jones0911
LYNX WIN BY LOSING? If the Lynx beat Golden State tonight at Target Center (7 p.m., FDSN, NBA TV), which they’ve done in their three previous games against the expansion team, they’ll start a best-of-three playoff series on Sunday vs. the Valkyries in Minneapolis. HERE’S WHAT’S INTERESTING: If the Lynx had beaten Indiana on Tuesday night and followed with a win against the Valkyries, there would have been a three-way tie for the final playoff spots — and the Lynx would have played Seattle based on records in games among the Valkyries, Fever and Storm. Seattle has beaten the Lynx twice in their four games and is a team that presents a tougher matchup for the Lynx because of its big inside players. So, basically, the Lynx helped themselves by losing to the Fever. But don’t look for coach Cheryl Reeve to admit that, at least until she publishes her memoirs.
THE OTHER OUTCOME: If the Valkyries upset the Lynx tonight, they’ll have the sixth seed, Indiana will be seventh and Seattle will be Minnesota’s first-round opponent as the eighth seed.
POSTSEASON SCHEDULE: All the games are on ABC and ESPN, which are using the playoffs and counterprogramming to the NFL on Sundays. With the Vikings playing Sunday night, along with Phoenix and Las Vegas also having home-court advantage, I’m assuming the Lynx will get either the noon or 2 p.m. tip-off for Game 1. SCHEDULE: https://fluence-media.co/playoffs0911. TICKETS: https://fluence-media.co/lynxtix0911
ONE MORE THING: Game 2 will be either Tuesday or Wednesday. But the Valkyries can’t get into Chase Center, their home arena, because a tennis tournament was booked there two years ago. So the teams will play in San Jose, 50 miles south of San Francisco.
MVPHEE? Napheesa Collier shouldn’t lose out on the MVP award just because of the ankle injury that sidelined her more than 20% of the season. But she could lose out to A’ja Wilson of Las Vegas because the Aces were a bumbling 14-14 mess until putting together their current 15-game winning streak, which has been sparked by Wilson’s 26.3 points and 11.5 rebounds per game during that stretch. It won’t be an injustice if that happens — and it’ll be a fabulous subplot if the Lynx and Aces meet in the WNBA Finals. The award will be announced in a couple of weeks. STATS: Collier | Wilson
KAPRIZOV REJECTS HUGE WILD OFFER: Via Jess Myers at Pioneer Press. VERBATIM: “According to a report from NHL insider Frank Seravalli published on the social media platform X, Kirill Kaprizov was offered an eight-year contract worth $128 million this week, and he turned down the team’s offer. At an average annual value of $16 million, the offer would have made Kaprizov the highest-paid player in NHL history.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/wild0911
WARNING: Via John Shipley at Pioneer Press. VERBATIM: “Let’s be honest, as a competitive entity, the Wild have not built a case that they can get Kaprizov’s name on the Stanley Cup. This is important. After finally breaking free from salary cap jail this summer, the team made one real move after free agency opened — trading for forward Vladimir Tarasenko, a Russian compatriot for Kaprizov in the locker room, but unlikely to be the difference for a team that hasn’t won a playoff series since 2015.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/kaprizov0911
LOONS RETURN: By this time next week, we’ll know what our excitement level about Minnesota United should be. The second-place Loons play at Western Conference-leading San Diego on Saturday (9:30 p.m., AppleTV) and at home on Wednesday in the U.S. Open Cup semifinals against Austin. MNUFC has a win and a draw in two matches against Austin and would host the title game, against Nashville or Philadelphia on Oct. 1 if they advance. More about the U.S. Open Cup is here.
KEY ADDITION: Via Jon Marthaler at Star Tribune. Looking to upgrade its attack, the Loons signed midfielder Dominik Fitz, one of the top players in Austria, to a contract that runs through 2029. Fitz, 26, had played his entire career for Austria Wien, a Vienna-based team that is typically among the league’s best. VERBATIM: “Manager Eric Ramsay described Fitz as ‘as advertised’ after seeing him in his first couple of training sessions with Minnesota. ‘He’s neat and tidy on the ball, and will certainly help us in terms of creativity and craft — particularly those situations that we find ourselves in more and more so now, where we’re trying to break down a team on the top of the box,’ Ramsay said.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/fitz0911
MEDIA LOSS I: KARE-TV sports director Reggie Wilson posted on Linked-In that his position is being eliminated at the end of the year. Wilson came to the station from Cincinnati in 2021. His wife, Alexis Rogers, left the station in January. VERBATIM: “My last day is December 31st. It’s not easy navigating layoffs, especially considering my wife and I are both enduring job loss at KARE in the same year. Now with a newborn at home, the stakes are raised. So I’m open for work.”
MEDIA LOSS II: When the Star Tribune shuts down its printing plant in north Minneapolis at the end of the year, it will ship the newspaper to Iowa to be printed by the Des Moines Register. That will also mean a massive overhaul of deadlines: 5:15 p.m. for the daily edition and 4:30 p.m. for Sundays. In other words, don’t be looking in print for scores, game reports, action photos and quick reactions to news. MY TAKE: This move shouldn’t be a surprise as print circulation continues dropping. The Strib is essentially telling print readers “this is the best we can do for you.” Framing it any other way is a smokescreen. If there’s a “print edition” of the Star Tribune in three or four years from now, I’ll be surprised.
IN CASE YOU’RE WONDERING: The video game-style graphics that popped up from time to time during FDSN broadcasts of Lynx games was an experiment to determine whether it should be part of Timberwolves games this season, according to a network source. If you missed them, the graphics — showing stats, the player handling the ball and shot trajectory — would show up for a few minutes at a time. MY TAKE: The graphics became less cluttered after their first appearances, but were still a distraction.
EARLY START TO FROST SEASON? Via Tyler Kuehl at Daily Faceoff. The web site is reporting that training camp will open in early November and the PWHL’s third season will begin the weekend before Thanksgiving, about 10 days earlier than the 2024 start. There will be schedule breaks for the second half of the USA-Canada rivalry series and for the Olympics, and the season will feature the debut of expansion teams in Seattle and Vancouver. VERBATIM: “Sources tell Daily Faceoff that the 2025-26 season will begin the weekend of Nov. 21-23, the earliest start in the league’s history. Training camps are said to be opening up on Nov. 7. The official schedule has not yet been released, nor has there been information on whether teams will play 30 games, as they did last year, or more.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/pwhl0911
GOOD FOR THE CITY: Via Chip Scoggins at Star Tribune. With feeder programs disappearing and fewer students wanting to play football, the competitive imbalance between schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul compared to schools in the suburbs has been accelerating. THE SOLUTION: A revised scheduling plan was adopted this season by the Minnesota State High School League that has most city schools playing against Minnesota or St. Paul opponents after starting the season with two games against suburban schools. DATA: In 2019, Minneapolis parks had 21 youth flag football teams and 18 tackle teams. This year, there are 71 flag teams and only two tackle teams. There are city-based youth travel teams, but those players often end up enrolling in suburban or private schools.
VERBATIM: From Washburn coach Ryan Galindo. “We’re passionate about our kids in football and just keeping it alive. There have been years within my head coaching career that we had 40 kids on the team. That’s scary. Trying to keep it going and when you can play your friends who go to South or Roosevelt or North or Camden, that gets you a little more invested in what you’re doing.” From Roosevelt quarterback Kieran Quinlan. “It’s all guys I grew up with. The competitive aspect really draws it more out of me. I know these guys. I really want to compete with them. It makes it more fun.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/city0911
IN CASE YOU FORGOT: Via David Aldridge at The Athletic. Lynx superstar Maya Moore was inducted into basketball’s Naismith Hall of Fame last weekend and the speech she gave is a reminder of her greatness on and off the court. VERBATIM: “To consider Maya Moore is to acknowledge that there are human beings among us who are simply wired differently, and who do more with their footprint to make the world a little better. This is not an indictment of the rest of us — there are many good souls among the Not Maya — as much as it is a testament to Moore, and the people like her, who impact the world at multiple points.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/maya0911
THE SPEECH: It starts at the 2:47 mark of this video, following an introduction of her highlights and comments from others.
ALSO INDUCTED: Lynx center Sylvia Fowles. Her speech is here.
This is something I didn’t want to write because I kept hoping things would somehow work themselves out. But the Twins have failed to meet the moment on so many levels this summer, from ownership to the field, that it’s time to put the colossal failure of the 2025 season into context.
The Twins have disserved their supporters this summer in every way possible with missteps ranging from (1) the outcome of the Pohlad family’s effort to sell the team to (2) the front office rotating a cast of laughably inept players through the major league roster after it was decimated at the trade deadline to (3) the sloppy and lazy play on the field to (4) the stunning lack of transparency by the front office and ownership to (5) giving no indication of what’s ahead.
That the Twins have refused to identify the two ownership groups that are purchasing 25% of the team, pending MLB approval, is off-the-charts bizarre. Fresh money and new voices should have created a dose of optimism. How many owners buy into pro sports teams and seek to remain out of public view? The silence adds many questions to a list that is already too long.
The Pohlads have refused to share any vision for the future through their lack of communication – aside from their tin-eared pronouncement that they could not have “imagined a better outcome than where we landed.” The team’s baseball executives have been almost entirely absent from view, and from any kind of questioning from the media or the public. If the last six weeks of play does the talking for them, the message being sent is incoherent and disrespectful. The notion frequently put forth by their broadcasters that the current roster is trying to make an impression for the future is disingenuous because the team is filled with placeholders.
If management’s lack of transparency was offset by championship-level baseball, I’m sure a majority of fans would accept that tradeoff. Instead, based on a reader survey in The Athletic that attracted almost 6,000 responses, 98.5% (5,871 of 5,958) said they want the Pohlads to sell the team. Somebody find me something else — anything — that 98.5% of any group agrees on.
Those still watching are being told that the Twins are focusing on becoming a more aggressive team on the bases – a sliver of the game that doesn’t consider three things: pitching, hitting and fielding, all of which are bigger problems. Further, if this was really a big issue, why did it wait until the team collapsed to the bottom of the standings? Who didn’t figure out that baseball’s rule changes in 2023 were designed to create more action on the bases rather than the base-to-base plodding that has been a Twins hallmark.
The pitching is in such shambles that failed pitchers are brought in and brought back from St. Paul because the Twins have no other options. I laughed-cried recently when one of the Internet fan sites posted a question about pitchers Travis Adams and Pierson Ohl and asked, “Who is more likely to have an impact in 2026?”
Right answer: Neither.
The same site posted a story about a recent game with this headline: “Pinch running pays off. But missed opportunities still sink Twins.” That’s the kind of silver lining associated with losing the friendship game at a tournament for 10-year-olds.
The only member of the organization who has stood out – through actions and words – is Byron Buxton. His play has been excellent and he’s not backing down from being as much of a leader as he can to whatever collection of teammates the front office provides. In baseball terms, the Twins are nibbling at the corners of the plate when they should be throwing high, hard fastballs. In business terms, they need to be as aggressive in rebuilding the team as they were in tearing it down at the trading deadline.
Solutions? Obviously, the pitching staff needs to be rebuilt and competent veterans added at other positions – first base, a second catcher and in the outfield – before next season to create the whiff of a competitive team.
Who makes those moves is just as important. Rocco Baldelli’s job is apparently safe for as long as Derek Falvey is in charge because the manager is part of the front office team. From the on-field results, at Target Field and throughout the organization, it’s clear the Twins have failed to fully develop talent. That’s as much on the baseball executives as it is on Baldelli. If the Pohlads and their invisible partners want to gain credibility, they need to remake the baseball operation off-the-field in order to rebuild it on the field.
If the Twins want to win games and win back fans, I don’t see any other option. Do you?
(Complete results of the Twins fans survey from the Athletic are here.)
THANKS FOR READING AND SHARING YOUR THOUGHTS WITH ME. Back with more next week.
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