The Twins' Bullpen is on Pace to Break a Weird MLB Record

The Twins' mishmash bullpen, held together with duct tape and Elmer's glue in the wake of last year's trade deadline fire sale, is on pace to break a strange MLB record. If they pull it off, it would be a pretty fitting achievement for this particular group.

The record in question is the number of pitchers to record a save for a team in one season. It was set last year by the Arizona Diamondbacks, whose closer-by-committee approach resulted in a whopping 17 players recording at least one save during their 80-win campaign. Before that, the high was 14, set by the 2021 Rays and matched by the 2024 Dodgers.

The 2026 Twins, who have played 54 games and won 26 of them, have already had 11 different pitchers record a save. It's not even June, and that number is tied for the 15th-most in league history. To put it into some context, the all-time record was 12 before this decade began.

Here's the current list of every Twin to record a save this season, from Cole Sands on March 28 through Travis Adams on Sunday.

Cole Sands
Cody Laweryson
Justin Topa (2)
Kody Funderburk
Eric Orze
Luis Garcia (2)
Yoendrys Gomez
Taylor Rogers (2)
Andrew Morris
Anthony Banda
Travis Adams

The Twins got one save, from Sands, in March. Then they swept the Tigers in four games in early April, incredibly getting a save from four different pitchers in that series. Then they went over three weeks without a save until Topa got one in early May. Now they have eight saves during a current 10-5 spurt, including a save in each of their last six wins (from five different pitchers).

Manager Derek Shelton has operated without set roles on the back end of the bullpen. GM Jeremy Zoll has scoured the scrap heap for replacement arms like Garcia and Gomez when needed. And it has kind of worked, at least lately? The Twins have a 4.70 bullpen ERA this season, which ranks 26th in baseball. But during this hot stretch that began on May 9, they're at a 2.05 ERA, which ranks fourth.

Looking ahead, the Twins have two-thirds of their season left and need just seven more pitchers to record a save if they're going to pass the Diamondbacks and stand alone in (very niche) history. It feels pretty possible, considering five of the current 11 aren't on the roster right now. Sands and Laweryson are on the IL, Funderburk is at Triple-A, and Topa and Garcia were released.

Six of the Twins' eight current relievers have at least one save. Simeon Woods Richardson and Kendry Rojas seemingly have a great chance to grow the overall list to 13 in the near future. SWR has thrown three scoreless innings since his recent move to the 'pen, including the final two frames of Monday's loss to the White Sox. Rojas just pitched innings 6-8 in Saturday's win in Boston before Morris started the ninth and Rogers finished it with a one-out save.

Obviously, there will have to be more bullpen roster churn to get to 18. But given that the Twins have had 17 pitchers make at least one appearance in relief in the first two months of this season, that feels pretty inevitable.

Pitchers currently at Triple-A St. Paul who one can envision recording their first save for the Twins this year include John Klein, Marco Raya, C.J. Culpepper, Drew Smith, Julian Merryweather, and others. That's not to mention future waiver claims or trade acquisitions in the Garcia/Gomez mold.

This should be a fun little subplot to follow over the remainder of what has so far been a surprisingly-competitive Twins season.

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