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