Twins ’26

March 30: Already I’ve settled into a different frame of mind watching the Twins: I hope they do well, but I’m not expecting a win. I analyze strengths and weaknesses, but if they lose, especially to the home team, it doesn’t ruin my day as it has in years past. That said, what has impressed so far is the starting rotation. Ryan was excellent, Bradley showed flashes of brilliance, Ober and Woods-Richardson performed competently. Only Mick Abel, in a planned relief role, wasn’t up to snuff. Maybe when he starts he will be better.
The Twins have opened 1-3 not due to their pitching–the relievers have held their own–but their anemic offense. When you’re fiddling your lineup to make sure Victor Caratini gets starts, you’re in trouble. Lewis and Wallner have homered, which masks their general futility at the plate. Buxton, as usual, has exciting moments, but is still an easy strike out in clutch situations. The Twins are still far from the “put-the-ball-in-play” style of hitting that at least makes teams fun to watch.

March 26: It may seem presumptuous to analyze the 2026 Minnesota Twins after watching Opening Day, but these points jumped out:
1. The Twins have three legitimate players: Byron Buxton, Ryan Jeffers and Luke Keaschall. The rest are hangers-on or wannabes, players who couldn’t make the rosters of half the Major League teams.
2. Brooks Lee is not the long-term answer at shortstop. He’s an average (maybe) fielder and an insecure hitter. When he came to the plate with a chance to do damage, he was easily disposed of.
3. The Twins were bottom-three last year hitting with runners in scoring position, not a formula for success. Against the Orioles today they “threatened” in inning after inning, but hit into three doubleplays.
4. A corollary is their failure to move a runner on second with no outs over to third. No situational hitting.
5. Joe Ryan is a horse. He absolutely dominated the Orioles lineup and should be an All-Star again this year.
6. To say the Twins bullpen is a work in progress is an understatement. There is no closer, just a bunch of nibblers who’ll be asked to patch together the last three innings of every game. The 2-1 loss today was not their fault: Kody Funderburk and Justin Topa each gave up a seeing-eye single, hit more slowly than a half-dozen groundouts by the Twins. One solid single then scored the second run–the kind of clutch hit that eluded Minnesota (but see 6, below).
7. Austin Martin was notable last year for boneheaded plays, especially on the bases. Today he threw to the wrong base after catching a sacrifice fly, which allowed the eventual winning runner to advance to second. The run was charged to Topa, but Martin owned it.
8. Royce Lewis, I fear, will be a struggle again. The Twins won’t give up on him, given the potential he exhibited two years ago, but his home-run fixation will lead to more warning-track outs when he does make contact.
9. There will be plenty of room for a rookie or two to come over from St. Paul in a couple months and at least make the season more interesting. 10. I do like the pitch-call challenge with ABS. Twins batters had two valuable overturns. Maybe an area to excel.
Maybe tomorrow, or next week, someone will break out and make these observations look premature and foolish. But so far, I’m pinning all my hopes on the starting pitchers–Bailey Ober, Taj Bradley, Mick Abel, Simeon Woods-Richardson–to keep the boys competitive.