By Steve Schier
Spring Training is here, and of course hope springs eternal for every MLB team’s fans. Here are five factors to keep in mind as the Twins’ 2026 season gets underway.
New owner leadership. That would be the outspoken Tom Pohlad, who loudly touts his team’s competitiveness. If hyperbole wins games, Mr. Pohlad is an all-star. Beyond the verbiage, however, lies many years of Pohlad family futility in consistently fielding winning teams. Mildly put, the owners are far from fan favorites. History tells us more than current owners’ spin.
Whither the Ace? Statistically, the peak years for pitchers are ages 27 to 29. Pablo Lopez, the Twins’ leading starters, will be absent with injuries during this, his age 29 season. Last year at age 28 he only made fourteen starts due to injury, when healthy rotation members usually start thirty games. Plus, during both years he earned $21.5 million for this often absent performance. The highest paid player – making almost 20 percent of the team’s total payroll, will be missing this year.
Aging Buxton. Byron Buxton, the team’s star position player, is now 32 years old, past most players’ age 27-29 prime. He was able to appear in 126 games last season, the most since his 140 game appearance way back in 2017. In between were six seasons — 2018-23 – when he appeared in under one hundred games each year due to injuries. During the usual ages 27-29 peak for players, he appeared in 61, 92 and 85 games. Will Buxton be able to ward off more injuries and declining performance due to age?
The AAA hope. Teams do receive talent through their minor league pipelines, but that help is gradual every year. Baseball American has calculated that even among first round draft picks, only 14.3 percent of pitchers record 1,000 career strikeouts and 22.5 percent of first rounders record 1,000 career hits. The numbers tell us not to expect immediate, dramatic team improvement from the minor leagues.
The money game. In 2025, all but one of the playoff teams had team budgets well above the currently estimated $106 million that Twins will spend. Only one team – the Cleveland Guardians – had a team budget below $119 million. A cash infusion might bring the Twins the necessary talent, but that is not likely.
So, we can cling to hope despite the five items above.
Otherwise, there’s always 2027 . . .
Steve Schier is a Twins season ticket holder who is currently attending spring training games in Florida.
