The Twins might not be quite where they want to be — they’d rather be leading their division than in third place as they currently sit, of course — but in the grand scheme of things, they’re where they hoped they would be.

There’s a month left to go in the regular season and they’re currently in line to win a wild card with the chance to fight for the American League Central title in September.

“That’s actually a message that I talked to our team about a few days ago,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “This is what you want. You want to be going into September in a good spot with an opportunity to play really important games throughout the month. If you do your job well, you have a chance to go to the playoffs and maybe win a World Series. That’s what we’re here for.”

Heading into Friday night’s action, the Twins were 3 1/2 games back from the division-leading Cleveland Guardians and 1 1/2 games behind the Kansas City Royals. Before the weekend started, they were 3 1/2 games ahead of the Boston Red Sox, the closest team chasing them in the wild card race, meaning they were just as close to leading the division as falling out of a playoff spot.

And, importantly, the Twins will play all of those teams in a pivotal September, facing the Royals next weekend and then Cleveland and Boston from Sept. 16-22.

September sets up to be a month of scoreboard watching within the Twins’ clubhouse.

“I think everyone would be naive to say they’re not checking out the scores in the stadium, seeing what the ribbon board says,” catcher Ryan Jeffers said. “We have four against Cleveland against and three against KC so we still have lots of opportunity to make up games. There’s still a month of baseball left. You look at where we’re at now … Three back or something … it could easily turn to us being three up at the end of the year.”

The Twins have the easiest schedule remaining of the three AL Central teams in contention with their opponents having a collective .484 winning percentage. Cleveland’s schedule is slightly hardest and Kansas City’s is the most difficult of the three.

Entering Friday’s action, FanGraphs gave the Twins an 84.8 percent chance of making the playoffs. So yes, this is where the Twins want to be, despite a recent spell that saw them go 2-8 in their 10 games leading up to Friday’s series opener with the Toronto Blue Jays.

“This is what you dream of when you’re working out in the offseason. This is what you want in spring training when you all get together as a team and you’re hoping for a … postseason push,” third baseman Royce Lewis said. “We’re right where we need to be, man. We’re a handful of games away and we get to face both these teams coming up soon that are ahead of us. I’m very much so looking forward to it. I know it’s in our hands.”

Briefly

Max Kepler (knee) was out of the lineup on Friday. He missed Monday’s game because of the issue but played Tuesday and Baldelli said Kepler did not feel so great after that. Baldelli said Kepler would work out on Friday and they would see how he was doing. … The manager did not have an update on Carlos Correa (foot) and Byron Buxton (hip) after Thursday’s off day, except to say Buxton is further along towards a return than Correa. … Former Twin José Berríos is scheduled to take the ball on Saturday against rookie Zebby Matthews.

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