> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://the-generalist.ghost.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # ... and that's a wrap (Start the countdown!) - URL: https://the-generalist.ghost.io/and-thats-a-wrap-start-the-countdown/ - Published: 2026-09-28T12:00:52.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-28T14:34:56.000Z - Description: The end of the Twins season, plus the debut of a new list: Top 5 Coolest Things I Saw at Target Field This Summer. - Author: Patrick Donnelly - Tags: baseball, milestones, eephus pitches Well, that'll do it for another season of Twins baseball. They finished the season by taking two of three from the Rangers, who could've won the AL West if they'd swept the Twins. Instead, they limped to the finish line and I got to avoid another [champagne celebration](https://the-generalist.ghost.io/you-havent-lived-until-youve-had-a-utility-infielder-pour-budweiser-on-your-head/) in the visitors' clubhouse. ([Here's what I wrote about it](https://apnews.com/article/texas-rangers-al-west-houston-astros-edfc127df70b08efb990559f825fb665?ref=the-generalist.ghost.io) – I really liked the lede and how the last two grafs came together.) The Twins ended up 77-84, slightly better than most preseason forecasts (their average predicted win total was roughly 72) and a seven-game improvement in manager Derek Shelton's first season. However, before we crown Shelton the greatest Twins manager of all time, remember the trading deadline last year? Management shipped away every viable arm in Rocco Baldelli's bullpen plus a handful of productive position players and then said, "Go get 'em!" Predictably, their record the rest of the season was 19-35 and Baldelli was made the scapegoat for another organization-wide failure. Meanwhile, this year the team *added* talent at the trade deadline, then proceeded to go 21-30 in August and September – in other words, they played worse down the stretch despite being given an infusion of pitching help. In other news, I miss Rocco. On a personal level, I covered 60 of the 80 home games this year (one was played in Iowa, [you might recall](https://www.mlb.com/events/field-of-dreams?ref=the-generalist.ghost.io)). It's the third year in a row I've covered at least 60 games, which might be hard to square with the title of this newsletter. Baseball remains my favorite sport, but given that I'm still only covering home games, I'm comfortable remaining The Generalist in these spaces. However, if I'm ever offered a full-time job covering the Twins (or hell, any other MLB team), I'd have to think long and hard about a career shift. But that remains unlikely for a number of reasons, so I think you're stuck with me. --- Despite the team's struggles this year, there were plenty of great moments. That's the beauty of a 162-game season. Even the worst team in the league will win 60 games (OK, the Rockies won 58 this year but you get my drift) so there's plenty of positivity if you know where to look for it. With that in mind, I'm going to post my Top 5 Coolest Things I Saw at Target Field This Summer. Let's do this countdown style. I love keeping you in suspense. And away we go ... ## No. 5 – Walker Jenkins' first career home run ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d5/5f/d55f7f93-1c82-4c17-bb6a-1e45e9fda0a0/content/images/2026/09/IMG_2963.jpg) The Twins called up Jenkins on August 28\. He'd been one of the top prospects in baseball since they drafted him fifth overall in 2023\. Like any proper Twins phenom, he's struggled with injuries ever since, but when healthy he basically shredded every level of minor league pitching. And after going on a nuclear-level heater in St. Paul this August, the brain wizards at 1 Twins Way decided it was time to see what he could do in the big leagues. To say Jenkins had a rough adjustment would be a vast understatement. In his first 16 games, he went 4 for 45 (.089). But talent usually has a way of showing itself before too long, and he followed that rough start by finishing the season 15 for 39 (.385) with three home runs in his final 10 games. If his name isn't written in bold ink on the Opening Day lineup card next year, Shelton will have some 'splainin to do. Jenkins joined the club at the start of a six-game homestand and fans rightly expected to see the first of presumably hundreds of Jenkins home runs at some point before the Twins hit the road. He managed a single and a double in his first three games against the White Sox. Then, on August 31 with the Tigers in town, Jenkins broke out the boom stick. Sort of. The Twins led 9-1 in the eighth inning, so the Tigers decided to save their bullpen an inning of work and turned the ball over to outfielder Zach McKinstry for the final frame. Now, McKinstry actually has a great arm, but rather than pump a series of 83-mph fastballs over the plate, he decided to have a little fun with it, mixing in a variety of offspeed pitches that varied from slow to comically slow to "what are we doing here?" Jenkins turned on one of those eephus pitches – a 37.4 mph "fastball," so dubbed because why not – and banged it high off the foul pole for career homer No. 1. I'm sure it wasn't exactly how Jenkins imagined it when he was a kid – nobody dreams of hitting your first career home run off a position player. But he wasn't going to turn it down. I asked Tigers centerfielder Max Clark, who was selected two spots ahead of Jenkins in the 2023 draft and had made his debut earlier in the month, if he would give his buddy a hard time about going deep against an outfielder. “They all count. If you go if you go 20 homers, 20 bags \[stolen bases for you squares who aren't hip to ballers' lingo\], nobody asks how many were off position players. They just say you went 20/20\. So, it's a good story to tell,” Clark said. “There's gonna be a lot more where that came from, so I don’t think he has to worry about it too much.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d5/5f/d55f7f93-1c82-4c17-bb6a-1e45e9fda0a0/content/images/2026/09/IMG_2961.jpg) Walker breaks through ... Check back tomorrow for No. 4 in our countdown of the Coolest Things I Saw at Target Field This Summer!