Bryce Harper checked off stadium No. 30 on Monday — and inched closer toward a rare feat

MINNEAPOLIS — Bryce Harper stepped to the plate in the first inning Monday against the Twins and crossed off a milestone when he did. For the next two-plus months, until the Athletics play their final game in Oakland Coliseum on Sept. 26, Harper has played in every active Major League ballpark.

And yes, he has probably heard an “overrated” chant in all 30 as well.

He responded on Monday the way he often does.

Harper has been in the league since 2012, but he hadn’t played a game in Minnesota, largely by stroke of luck: He was an All-Star in six of his first seven seasons — 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. Target Field hosted the All-Star Game in 2014.

The Nationals hosted the Twins in 2013 and 2016 but never visited them. The Phillies hadn’t been since 2016.

It was the second “all-30” milestone Harper has accomplished this month. Last Saturday, he homered against the A’s to give him homers against all 30 Major League franchises — counting the Houston Astros, whose lone home run surrendered to the two-time MVP came in the 2022 World Series.

Harper’s homered against all active teams and played in all active ballparks, but he has a few more dots to connect until he homers in all 30 active stadiums, which only Manny Machado, Giancarlo Stanton and Carlos Santana have done. The White Sox’s Guaranteed Rate Field, Astros’ Minute Maid Park and Rangers’ Globe Life Field are three of the last four active parks Harper hasn’t left. (The other is in Oakland, but barring a World Series run that we’ll politely call improbable, the Phillies will never play there.)

They will, though, visit all those four teams — White Sox, Astros, Rangers and A’s (in their new Sutter Health Park) — next year, so Harper can complete the feat as soon as 2025 with at least one big fly in each three-game series.

Harper left Target Field Monday before he could be asked about completing the 30-stadium tour or the homer, but he’s typically not one to reflect much on such a feat beyond a simple “cool, wish we had won.” That’s fine. Soon, the A’s will move, (possibly) pack up to Las Vegas thereafter, MLB will add two expansion teams and Harper will have the same tour to chase all over again, just like the rest of us.

MINNEAPOLIS --CARLOS CORREA can’t play in the Twins’ games these days as he recovers from plantar fasciitis for a second consecutive season, which leaves the shortstop -- who is sometimes jokingly referred to as the Twins’ “assistant general manager” -- plenty of time to send Trade Deadline suggestions to manager Rocco Baldelli in an attempt to work those ideas up the ladder.

“It has to be,” Correa said. “I feel like our lineup is really good, especially when we're healthy. I think we're a top-3 lineup in baseball. Definitely -- everybody needs pitching.”

Bryce Harper has now homered against every Major League team!

Meanwhile, BAILEY OBER continued to assert his case for a starting role in the most important games with a needed -- and highly effective -- start against the MLB-best Phillies on Monday night, outdueling National League All-Star Ranger Suárez with seven stifling innings of two-run ball in a WIN to help the Twins close the gap. In the meantime, president of baseball operations Derek Falvey and his group are at work trying to find ways to add to that mix.

After allowing a two-run homer to Bryce Harper in the first inning, Ober allowed a leadoff single to Bryson Stott in the second -- and that was it. From that point forward, Ober faced the minimum through the end of his seven innings, with the only other baserunner he allowed coming on a leadoff walk to Trea Turner in the sixth, which was immediately erased by a Harper double play.

“I feel like the biggest thing, when stuff’s going right, is the mental side,” Ober said. “You’re on the current pitch, and then when that one’s over, you’re on to the next one. Nothing else is really going through your mind, you’re just in that kind of flow state of getting outs and executing pitches -- and right now, I’m feeling pretty good.

Couple this sort of outing with, say, Ober’s 89-pitch, 10-strikeout complete game in Oakland on June 22, and he certainly looks in line for a more prominent role this season than last, when he was on a short leash as the option behind the clear front two in López and Sonny Gray.

With López trying to right the ship in the second half, a reliable Ober and Joe Ryan (four earned runs in six innings against the NL Central-leading Brewers on Sunday) become even more significant -- as does whatever help could potentially be on the way. The challenge is that the Twins’ tricky payroll situation looms. They cut entering this year and their television contract again expires at the end of the season, which could limit their ability to take on more without, say, trading more prospect capital to get their trade partner to eat salary.

The Twins have shied away from rental starters in the past -- such as Jack Flaherty or Yusei Kikuchi in this year’s crop -- but that profile could perhaps make more sense this season due both to the longer-term payroll questions and the fact that the Twins’ top seven rotation options this year remain under contract next season.

With that said, Minnesota is always looking for controllable players, Falvey said, and it remains open to more creative need-for-need deals, if those possibilities arise.

“There is never a situation where we’re not keeping some eye on the future while we’re keeping it on the present,” Falvey said.

But whatever happens, don’t expect much until the 11th hour.

“The reality, in our sport, is a lot of this comes down as close to the end,” Falvey said. “I know it feels proximate to the Deadline, but in baseball hours and terms, it's an eternity between now and then.”

Monday was Bryce Harper's first time ever playing at Target Field, and he made the most of it.

The start of the game was delayed by rain, but Harper's first at-bat was worth the wait. The superstar was greeted with "overrated" chants from fans when he came up to bat in the top of the first. With one out and Trea Turner on first base, Harper unloaded on a 2-2 cutter from Bailey Ober, launching it 424 feet into the family picnic area beyond the right-field bleachers for a two-run homer.