A Memorable Twins Home Opener

All photos of 2026 Twins Home Opener available on Flickr.

Megan and I continued our annual tradition/requirement of attending an MLB home opener when we made it to the Twins-Rays matinee in Minneapolis on Good Friday.  The weather was near identical to the home opener we attended last year - low 40s and overcast - but that was where the similarities ended.  First and foremost, the lineup the Twins trotted out there on Friday was a mere shell of the version we saw in 2025 that once held a lot of promise.  The Twins infamously sold off about half their team at the trade deadline last year, and in the process broke an MLB record for most players traded from an active roster in one week with 11.  This was clearly a cost-saving measure by the Pohlad family, who briefly entertained selling the team last year, but then quickly realized "hey, if we just get rid of all our long term contracts and spend nothing, we're going to pocket a lot of coin."  Yes, the Twins do have a lot of debt (or they did at the time), so it's fair to want to trim some fat, especially for a smaller market team not poised to make the playoffs.  But to lie to the fans and say they are still fielding a competitive team is just a big slap in the face.  Just call it a rebuild or "tanking" or however you want to phrase it and let's be adults about it.  There was a even an organized effort from a group to chant "POHLADS SUCK" during the 3rd inning of the game, which I think will be just the start of tensions boiling over for fans.  The announced attendance was just over 36,000 and I fully expect that to be the high water mark for the entire season.

Anybody who's been to a lot of MLB games knows that announced attendance is always way more than actual butts in the seats, and that could not have been more evident at this particular game due to the most memorable part of the day - a power outage at the stadium!  As Megan and I were walking out of the parking garage around 1:45pm, the lights went out.  We didn't think much of it at the time, as they were the old high pressure sodium variety of lights.  There was also a long line at the gate when we emerged from the parking garage, and again we didn't think anything of that because it's Opening Day.  But then after waiting for a few minutes and not moving an inch, the front gate staff alerted the crowd to what was going on.  Megan and I scoured Reddit and found that Xcel was estimating a restored service time of 3:15pm - which was after scheduled first pitch - so we promptly walked in the direction of the working street lights across the street and killed some time at an Irish pub, while all the other morons stood in a pointless line in the cold rain.  The outage lasted about an hour which pushed first pitch back an hour, and we finally got into the park a little after 3:00.  At first, we were pretty upset that the power went out just before we got inside, but in hindsight we were in a very fortunate window of time.  Had we arrived 5 minutes earlier, we would have been trapped inside the stadium with no power, no heat, no concessions, and no entertainment, with only Happy Hour hot dogs being given away for free to subside the angry mob.  And had we arrived 5 minutes later, we would have been stuck in miles of traffic unable to enter the parking garage.  So we ended up being pretty lucky and making the best of it, like we always do.  Once inside Target Field, the scene was quite reminiscent of a Covid-era supply chain log jam.  Waves of people stormed the gates and immediately made a bee-line for either a bathroom, food, or a beer, and the lines were all insane.  All of the $2 dogs were gone, and even though the $2 beer happy hour was extended to the 2nd inning, the lines were struggling to catch up the entire game and we were never able to procure one.  I didn't understand why a line for a stand that sold a single item for $2 went so slow, but I chose not to dwell on it.  It took us about a half hour to pee and get a beer and as a result, we weren't able to get our usual great spots by the Surfside Bar in left, but we did find a decent alternative in center field under some heat lamps, with a bar rail in front of us, and the smell of fried chicken wafting from behind us.  We settled out there for most of the game, and ended the last two innings in the Truly Deck in right field as an intense rain began to fall.

The power outage and the overall sentiment towards the team ownership both cast a palpable shadow over the day.  We tried not to let it dampen our mood, and the good part was it distracted us from the crummy Minnesota spring weather.  The bad part was that we were really looking forward to this happy hour that ended up being a dud.  You can't fault the team entirely for it (unless the Pohlads forgot to pay the electric bill), but power outage aside, the Twins were also clearly unprepared for the popularity of this promotion on the busiest day of the year.  We hope that by the time we return for another Friday happy hour game next month that they've got all of the kinks worked out.  Because of all the delays, we also didn't really get a ton of time to walk around the stadium and to look for the new featured concessions items.  We did wolf down some Buffalo Chicken Poutine in the 8th inning, which was divine, but other than that I did not see any of the other new featured items.  I did notice there were a few "value stands" added this year, which Erik and I saw implemented in Seattle and SF on our last couple trips, and these seem to be becoming a welcome trend.  Having stands where a family can get a "cheap" dog, soda, beer, or popcorn, and gouging everyone for the specialty items, is the right way to do it if I was running a team.  I appreciated this gesture along with the concept of the happy hour given how horrendous the team will be this year; both just need the details worked out a bit more to be successful.

Despite their best effort, the Twins did actually manage to win the game by a score of 10-4.  Bailey Ober got the start for the Twins, following a delegation of Minnesota Winter Olympians throwing out the ceremonial first pitches.  The former 12th round pick gave up 3 runs over 4 innings on the afternoon.  One of the few remaining stars on the team - Byron Buxton - went 0-3 and had his usual exit from injury, but returned to the lineup Sunday and seems like he'll be ok (for now).  Matt Wallner was 0-5 with 5 strikeouts, which I don't even know what that's called - a Platinum Sombrero?  The Twins were tied 3-3 heading into their half of the 7th and put up a 7-spot that was capped off by Tristan Gray's grand slam just over the wall in right.  Gray was a whisper away from being cut out of camp and even contemplated retirement, so it was a pretty great redemption story, even if just for the day.  Joe Boyle gave up 3 runs over 5.1 for the visiting Rays and took a no-decision in the loss.

On our way home, Megan and I toggled through some of our most memorable Opening Days, and given the circumstances, I think looking back this one will definitely be right up there for games we'll never forget.  In closing, I'm looking through my blog archives here, and it seems like I've somehow not updated my Target Field rankings since my very first visit in August 2010, so those are long overdue for a refresh and listed below.

park rankings and statistics

(see original rankings from 8/3/10):

aesthetics - 9
views from park - 8
view to field - 7
surrounding area - 8
food variety - 9
nachos - 8
beer - decreases to 6
vendor price - improves to 6 (added "value stands" and happy hours, but everything else still pricy)
ticket price - 8
atmosphere - 9
walk to park - 8
parking price/proximity - 6
concourses - 4
team shop - improves to 9 (one of the larger ones in MLB)

kids area - 4 (new category since last rankings - the area itself is kind of lame but it's a great location in entry plaza.  overall it's not a super kid friendly stadium)

best food - still the Tony O cuban pork sandwich!
most unique stadium feature - site, standing room areas
best jumbotron feature - the funniest player facts in the league

best between-inning feature - Race to Target Field with Minnesotan mascots

field dimensions - 339/403/328

starters - Joe Boyle (TB) v. Bailey Ober (MIN)
opponent - Tampa Bay Rays
time of game - 3:07 (0:57 delay)
attendance - 36042
score - 10-4 W

Brewers score that day - PPD

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 4/6/26:

Brewers 7-2; 3 @ Red Sox, 3 v. Nationals, 3 v. Blue Jays, 3 @ Marlins

Twins 3-6; 4 v. Tigers, 3 @ Blue Jays, 3 v. Red Sox, 3 v. Reds

2026 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 1
Peter - 1

Major Storylines of 2026

The 2026 MLB season starts this Wednesday night, and to say I'm excited would be an understatement.  I literally just reserved our conference room at work for the first hour of the Brewers opener before I started typing this post.  It's also not hyperbole to say that my excitement is magnified a bit this year because it might be our last normal Opening Day for awhile.  Pundits, fans, and teams alike are bracing for what is very likely to be another lockout at the conclusion of this season.  There was a lockout at the end of the last CBA in 2021 that did not end up impacting any games and merely delayed the start of the 2022 season by about a week, but experts (and myself) believe that this coming lockout will not be as kind.  Generally speaking, the players' union has caved in the last couple rounds of negotiations and are set to dig in their heels this time around.  The most amazing thing to me is not really the impending lockout itself, but the fact that there seems to be zero sense of urgency.  Neither side seems interested in meeting to hash things out until the 11th hour, and Tony Clark even stepped down as MLBPA Director last month amidst a nepotism scandal.  So not only are the players going into these negotiations flat-footed to begin with, but now with the added curveball of new representation in Bruce Meyer.  The major issue on the table this time around will be salary control - namely, players want to see a salary floor, and owners want to see a salary cap.  Major League Baseball is famously the only major sport that does not have a salary cap, and teams with bottomless pockets like the Dodgers and Mets have continued to exploit that system and throw out their luxury tax fees like toilet paper.  The Dodgers are looking to become the first team to three-peat since the 1998-2000 Yankees - another infamously wealthy franchise - with a payroll in excess of $400M.  Those opposed to a salary cap would point to the fact that teams like the Brewers, Rays, and Guardians are perennially competitive with payrolls nearly one-quarter of the Dodgers, or that there is increasing parity in the expanded playoffs, or even that money does not guarantee success, aka the Mets.  There are also arguments to be made from other sports with salary caps that a cap does not ensure competitive balance.  But I think everyone can agree that it's getting a little out of control and there needs to be some way to reign it in.  I think a salary floor coupled with limits on deferred money and years of player control would be a start for negotiations, but I'm not in the room, and to my earlier point I have no idea what the discussions are because they're not public, if they're even happening at all.  In my mind, the far greater concerns are teams tanking and the oodles of deferred money rather than a true salary cap, and I hope those issues both get addressed.  The Shohei Ohtani contract with $680M of a $700M contract deferred was the moment that broke everyone's brain and was a real moment of clarity that something needs to be done before the Dodgers just start buying every single World Series (to be fair, Ohtani has won 2 MVPs in 2 years as a Dodger and is inarguably one of the greatest players of all time).  The potential for a lockout is already affecting our ball trip considerations for 2027, so we'll be keeping a close eye on this.

The lockout is a backburner issue to many and something we can pretend doesn't exist during the season.  As for major news happening right now, the ABS (Automatic Ball-Strike) System is going to get the lion's share of the headlines both on and off the field.  This is a system that allows either the batter, catcher, or pitcher to tap their head to challenge the outcome of any pitch using an elaborate pitch tracking system tailored to everyone's individual height.  Unlike the replays of a play on the field which requires umpires huddling up for what is sometimes 5+ minutes, the ball-strike reviews happen nearly instantaneously and do not hold up the game for more than a few seconds.  This system has been used at various levels of the minor leagues for years to rave reviews and has been rolled out during Spring Training this year.  Purists will hate it, but I think it is great for the game.  You want the most important calls of the game to be correct, and ultimately that is what I think this will affect.  There are limits to challenges, so you're not going to see every single borderline pitch challenged; it will most likely be egregiously bad calls or pitches that determine the outcome of an at-bat, like a called 3rd strike or 4th ball.  The main reason I like ABS is it is going to truly enforce a strike zone that has never really been wholly enforced.  Elite hitters, elite pitchers, and elite pitch-framing catchers are no longer going to get the benefit of the doubt by their stature alone, and it should in theory level the playing field.  Speaking of stature, the tallest and shortest players are the most likely to be impacted by this, so be sure to take note of all the extra walks Jose Altuve and Aaron Judge are drawing this year.

There's also a third story that is not garnering much attention right now, but I think will have a profound impact on the sport in the next 5-10 years, and that is the constant flux of RSNs (Regional Sports Networks) and national broadcast rights.  FanDuel is pretty much belly-up at this point and a number of additional teams have been picked up by MLB.TV in 2026, including the Brewers.  This now brings the total number of teams with MLB-controlled telecasts to at least 14, with potentially more on the way.  MLB-controlled telecasts might mean more continuity and access for the viewers, but they will also mean far more money for MLB and far less money for the individual teams, particularly teams like the Angels that previously relied on lucrative local media contracts.  I think this RSN debacle will finally push Arte Moreno to build a new stadium and then sell the team - something that should have happened a long time ago.  Some teams like the Cubs and Braves are taking matters into their own hands and starting their own TV networks, but I think in time that is going to prove to be an antiquated model.  The ultimate goal of MLB is clearly to keep as much under their roof as possible so that they can push as much content to streaming platforms and national television as possible, in an era where more and more people are "cutting the cord."  Is this a cash grab?  Will this be a pain in the ass?  Absolutely to both.  But if this means that at some point down the line we potentially don't have to deal with all of the ridiculous territorial blackouts anymore, then I'm all for it.  If you think the way we consume baseball has changed a lot in the last decade, then just wait until you see the next decade.  Network cable is dying and the average age of a baseball fan rises every year, so something needs to change dramatically to reach new audiences, and we're seeing the inception of that under Commissioner Manfred.  Global marketing factors into all of this as well, which is why I am not counting out Montreal or Mexico as a site for a future expansion team.

On a personal note, I have no money riding on any team this year, so I am only rooting for my usual Brewers and Twins in 2026.  And by that I mean the Brewers, since the Twins will be laughable and their games are blacked out for me anyways.  Three days until Opening Day!!!

OPENING SERIES (SEASON STARTS 3/25/26):

Brewers - 3 v. White Sox, 3 v. Rays, 3 @ Royals

Twins - 3 @ Orioles, 3 @ Royals, 3 v. Rays

Tour 2026

Hello and welcome to 2026 and the 20th year of this blog!  I can't believe this hasn't been flagged by the internet gestapo yet and/or that Blogger.com still exists, but here I am.  This is always one of my favorite weeks of the entire year - football is mercifully over, spring training is right around the corner, and the announcement of our annual Tour trip to myself and the 5 other people that read this.  Erik and I decided it was appropriate for 2026 to celebrate America's pastime in the birthplace of our nation - Philadelphia - during the USA's Semiquincentennial year.  There are a lot of appalling things going on in our country right now that make it hard to be a citizen at times, but as Mark Twain famously said, "Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it."  It would be stubborn and short-sighted to pass up this opportunity, and we'll be proud to be in Philly for America's 250th birthday.

I was originally hoping that we could journey to Philadelphia over Independence Day and also sneak in a World Cup match, but alas, Erik was not available that weekend.  We then quickly pivoted to the All-Star Game the following weekend, which Citizens Bank Park is appropriately hosting.  We plan to attend basically every event surrounding All-Star Week except for the ASG itself - MLB Amateur Draft, Futures Game, MLBx, All-Star Village, All-Star Workout Day, and the Homerun Derby.  Erik and I did technically go to the Futures Game together when it was in Minneapolis in 2014, but he had to work the rest of the festivities when he was employed by the Twins, so this will be a first of sorts for us.  We will also not be going to the hotbed region of baseball that is Eastern Pennsylvania without fitting in a minor league game or two, and we've got a few options for those.  Erik has been a trooper the last four years of our trips with torturous cross-country flights, so I'm sure he is quietly very excited about not having to wake up at dawn to fly 6 hours this year.  I am also happy about not needing a rental car this year, which is usually one of the biggest headaches of our travels.  As is always the case, this will be months of planning and anticipation for something that goes by in the blink of an eye, but I can't wait!

Whereas Tour Erik 2026 will be all about celebrating the United States, Tour Molly 2026 will be going international for the first time.  My goal is to drive Molly up to Thunder Bay, Ontario for our daddy-daughter trip this year.  I'll probably break up the trip with a stop in Duluth since Thunder Bay is 6 hours away, but we've got our passports ready and I am super excited for this trip as well.  I always cherish our special time together, especially as she gets older and gets more and more of her Dad's attitude with each passing day.

Aside from the two major trips, I've also got the usual Town Ball and local collegiate schedules to scour, as well as what I'm assuming will be a poorly attended embarrassment of a Twins home opener.  Pitchers & Catchers report in just 2 days, play ball!!