The Twins’ odds to make the playoffs topped 95% on Sept. 5. Postseason play almost seemed like a given after the Twins had played like one of the best teams in the majors for large stretches of the season.

Those odds have sharply dwindled as September stretched on, marking the second time in three seasons that the Twins, who entered Friday with a tragic number of one, have fallen dramatically out of the playoff picture in the final month of the season.

Here’s a look at how it happened:

Injuries

Carlos Correa was playing some of the best baseball of his career when he developed plantar fasciitis in his right heel shortly before the All-Star break, forcing him to miss much of the second half of the season. Byron Buxton missed a month with right hip inflammation, too, taking two of the Twins’ most impactful bats out of the lineup at the same time.

Max Kepler has been dealing with multiple ailments since late August and on Friday, he was transferred to the 60-day injured list, likely ending his lengthy tenure as a Twin.

On the pitching side, Joe Ryan exited his start on Aug. 7 against the Cubs early after straining his teres major. His absence was very clearly felt as the Twins, at that point, then were forced to turn to a three-rookie rotation as Chris Paddack was already on the injured list.

Late-inning reliever Brock Stewart missed most of May, all of June, most of July and hasn’t thrown a pitch for the Twins since July 29, an absence that dramatically altered the state of the Twins’ bullpen, giving the team one less reliable option out there.

And the list of injuries goes on and on.

Offense slumping

An offense that hit so well for parts of the season fell into a prolonged slump near the end of it. Look no further than Thursday’s game when the Twins had multiple opportunities to end it in their 13-inning affair against the Marlins but finished the day 2 for 19 with runners in scoring position, unable to capitalize when it mattered most.

The Twins rank near the bottom of the league in home runs, runs scored, average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage since Aug. 18 (more on that game below), a fateful day in Texas.

Royce Lewis entered Friday with just one home run since Aug. 13 and has spoken multiple times about the challenges of staying fresh and playing through a season that’s been longer than any he has ever encountered.

Jose Miranda, who was scratched Friday with back tightness, hasn’t looked the same in the second half of the season after an injured list stint in July, which was also for his back. Miranda has hit for no power whatsoever in the second half of the season. In his 45 second-half games, he had zero home runs and had driven in just six runs.

Kepler wasn’t hitting well before his injury, Willi Castro was much better during the first half of the season and both catchers have tailed off from earlier in the season, as well.

Lack of moves

The Twins slashed payroll last offseason, which limited the front office’s ability to add impact players. They didn’t seem to have much flexibility to take on payroll at the trade deadline, either.

At that point — which was before Ryan’s injury — it seemed clear that the Twins could use some rotation help. And yet, the only move the Twins made was to trade for reliever Trevor Richards, who pitched 13 innings for the Twins before they designated him for assignment. In those 13 innings, he walked 11, hit a pair of batters and had trouble finding the strike zone.

It’s fair to wonder how differently things could have looked if the Twins had made an impact move at the deadline.

Bullpen blowups

On Aug. 18, the Twins were 70-53. They had just won their third straight game against the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers and were leading by four runs in the seventh inning when their season flipped on its head.

Jorge Alcala came in to protect that lead and gave up five runs in a matter of minutes. For some reason, things have never been the same.

Days later, left-handed reliever Steven Okert had a blowup of his own in San Diego, allowing four eighth-inning runs while retiring just a batter. The Twins, at that point, had a 5-3 lead, with six outs to go. They lost by two runs.

Those types of blowups became all too common in the last six weeks of the season. A rotation filled with three rookie starters put more weight on the bullpen and at times, the bullpen cracked, turning games they should have won into gut-punching losses.

Detroit’s resurgence

When the trade deadline rolled around in late July, the Tigers looked as if they were out of the race and they acted as sellers do, shipping Jack Flaherty off to the Los Angeles Dodgers, as part of a whole string of trades.

Coming into Aug. 11, the Tigers were 55-63 with their odds of making the playoffs at just 0.2%. They won that day and really haven’t stopped since, going from eight games under .500 to entering Friday’s play 11 games above it.

The Tigers have patched things together with a bullpen that has been the best in the majors during that stretch. It’s been a collective effort from the pitching staff, led by Tarik Skubal, who is expected to be named the American League Cy Young Award winner in a couple months.

Detroit’s resurgence saw them finally move past the Twins in the standings last Sunday.

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