Despite miserable stretch, don't count out the Minnesota Twins just yet

The Minnesota Twins are struggling mightily over the last week-and-a-half and fan confidence seems to be quickly waning.

They've lost eight of their past 10 games, suffering multiple pitching meltdowns, particularly by the bullpen, are still without several key players due to injury and don't have any set timelines for when they'll return. Plus, many of the regulars who are active have been slumping over the past two weeks.

Yet, despite all of that, don't count the Twins out just yet.

First of all, they entered Thursday still in the third and final American League wild card spot, 3 games ahead of Boston, while being just 3.5 games behind Cleveland in the AL Central and 2.5 behind Kansas City for the second wild card spot.

With 29 games left — 15 of which will be played at Target Field — the Twins' schedule looks like this:

• 3 vs. Toronto (the worst team in the AL East),
• 4 at Tampa Bay (the second-worst team in the AL East),
• 3 at Kansas City,
• 3 vs. Los Angeles Angels (the worst team in AL West),
• 3 vs. Cincinnati (the second-worst team in the NL Central),
• 4 at Cleveland,
• 3 at Boston,
• 3 vs. Miami (the worst team in the NL), and
• 3 vs. Baltimore.

Of those teams, only Kansas City and Toronto have played above .500 baseball since the All-Star break, five have worse records than the Twins — Baltimore and Toronto have only three combined more wins than Minnesota — and four of the teams have been among the eight worst teams in the majors since the All-Star break. Even including the Twins' recent slump, they are 18-19 since the All-Star break, the 16th-best record in the majors.

As of Thursday, Tankathon rated the Twins' remaining schedule as the 14th-easiest in the majors, but a case could be made that it's even more favorable than that.

Even including their slump, the Twins have a better team ERA over the past 30 days than every team left on their schedule except for Tampa Bay, and a better OPS in the past 30 days than each of them minus Kansas City, most by a wide margin.

Cleveland still has series against the Dodgers, Royals and Astros. The Royals still have matchups with the Guardians, Yankees, Astros, Braves and the equally formidable (post-All-Star break) Giants and Tigers. And, as mentioned above, the Twins play them both, meaning they still have a strong say in the outcome of the AL Central race.

Plus, the Twins hold the tiebreaker over the Royals, giving Minnesota a great shot of not only staying in the playoff picture but possibly even moving up.

Yes, the Twins have a lot to figure out still. Their bullpen has been a mess of late and there are few options besides internal improvement. Plus, they're still using three rookie starters, who have held up well thus far but could still stumble under big-game pressure, and it's unclear when — or if — Byron Buxton, Carlos Correa and Chris Paddack will return.

Yet, here they are, still in the playoff picture with just a month to go.

They stumbled out of the gates, losing 13 of their first 20 games this season before going 64-42 from April 20 through Aug. 18 when their big slump started — the best record in the majors over that span. Now, after a rough 10 games, they have a chance to catch their breath and rebound again.

With only a month to play, there's little time to waste. Maybe the team will continue to fall apart, but they've given plenty of reason to believe this is a quality team, even amid injuries, so don't write them off too quickly.