5 Thoughts: The Byron Buxton Impact, and a crackdown on Sticky Stuff in MLB

Monday is the start of a new chapter in baseball. And the Twins are about to hit the AL Central for 25 games in a row.

This column presents 5 Thoughts on a bit of an unusual week for the Twins.

1) The Twins would have won Monday’s game if Byron Buxton played

The week ended with Byron Buxton and Max Kepler returning to the lineup amid a 4-game winning streak. The Twins will put that on the line Monday night at the start of a 6-game homestand. But the week began by losing a 1-run ballgame and then getting blown out in Seattle. First thing’s first, Buxton probably couldn’t have helped them win that Tuesday game that they lost 10-0. He’s not switching to the mound, I have on good authority. Having said that, I remain convinced that the Twins would have won Monday’s game if he was activated and healthy in time.

Why wasn’t he there? More on that in a minute. But it bears pointing out that it was weird from the outside looking in that Buxton seemed so close to healthy a while ago, then was flying around the bases at Target Field during rehab, then hit well in a brief rehab assignment with the Saints, but the…