Twins clinch American League Central, punch ticket to playoffs

Twins clinch American League Central, punch ticket to playoffs

Royce Lewis, Edouard Julien and Matt Wallner all established themselves as major leaguers this season, a promising sign for both the present and the future

Twins clinch American League Central, punch ticket to playoffs

Byron Buxton stood in front of his locker in a nearly empty clubhouse in Fort Myers, Fla., on a day in March, dreaming of new jewelry. “I want a ring,” Buxton, one of the longest-tenured members of the team, said that day. “I want something that got them diamonds (in) the end.” This, he said, was one of the best Twins teams he could recall. The talk in spring training was that as Buxton and Carlos Correa, the $200 million shortstop who re-signed…