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Seven years ago, as the Twins tried to correct their path after four consecutive 90-loss seasons, the duo of Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton represented the clearest reason for hope.
We had been hearing about both players for several years already. Sano was barely 22 when he made his MLB debut for the Twins in 2015, while Buxton was still 21 that season when he also made his debut.
Sano made an immediate impact as the Twins stayed in playoff contention until the final week. Buxton's debut season was rougher, but still filled with breathtaking moments.
Expectations for what they would accomplish — individually, but inextricably linked as a tandem — were only limited by the bounds of imagination.
But soon enough, Sano and Buxton would reinforce the lesson that plays out constantly over the course of a lifetime: The future careens toward the present and, soon enough, fades into the past.
Seven years after their debuts, the Twins are certainly better off than they were before Sano and Buxton arrived. They have appeared in the postseason three times — 2017, 2019 and 2020 — and are in first place in the AL Central this year as well.
Both players have contributed to that success, but not in a way that has been steady or linear — something Patrick Reusse and I talked about on Tuesday's Daily Delivery podcast.
And now we're confronted with this reality, brought back front-brain by Sano's return from injury: These last two months are very likely the last chance for Sano and Buxton, the duo of the future, to do something truly great as a tandem.
While Buxton's long-term contract this past offseason figures to make him a Twins fixture for several more years, the guaranteed part of Sano's deal expires after this season. Even if he dominates these final two months, it's hard to imagine the Twins paying $14 million in 2023 for an inconsistent, strikeout prone first baseman.
It's fitting that this moment arrives with some of the same questions that have dominated the last seven years. Buxton was out of action following the All-Star break after receiving plasma injections to treat a painful knee. Sano was out of sight, out of mind while recovering from his own injury, but he still offers the seduction of potential.
"He's a game-changing type of at-bat when he's swinging the bat the way that he can," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said of Sano.
In the ultimate paradox, Buxton has had to-date a Sano-like season at the plate (23 homers, 91 strikeouts and a .216 batting average in 304 plate appearances) while Sano has been the one who has struggled more to stay healthy.
But fittingly, there's still at least a little future left for the duo. Maybe for the final two months of this season, Buxton and Sano can offer a final look at what Twins hoped would be a consistently dominant pair instead of a sporadically productive one.
They'd better hurry up because the past is approaching faster than anyone cares to admit.
