Sunday was the type of afternoon that Target Field was built for. The Minnesota Twins were playing their second weekend series of the season. The sky was blue, and they honored Minnesota’s native son and resident Hall of Famer, Joe Mauer, with a statue just beyond Gate 34.
With the Twins ahead on the scoreboard, it felt like nothing could go wrong. That is until a car caught on fire on the roof of Ramp B. As smoke and the smell of “Car-becue” ripped through the concourses, it was an unpleasant turn on a normally pleasant afternoon – until the paid attendance figure of 15,693 was released.
For all the things that were going on at Target Field on Saturday afternoon, the 15,000 fans coming through the gates is jarring. The Twins rank 14th out of 15 American League teams with an average attendance of 19,915. If you take out Opening Day, Minnesota is drawing 16,540 fans per game entering Monday night’s game against the New York Mets.
It’s a message sent by a fan base that had enough before the season began, but it has grown louder thanks to what has transpired on the field.
The easy answer is that the Twins aren’t winning games. Minnesota is 5-11 entering Monday’s series opener against the New York Mets. Only the Chicago White Sox (4-11) have a worse record in the American League. The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman also noted that the Twins have a 17-38 record in their past 55 games dating back to last season, putting them on pace for a 50-112 season.
This discourages fans from coming out to the ballpark. However, the Twins weren’t bringing people out even when they were fighting for their playoff spot last September. A three-game series against the Miami Marlins in the final week of the season drew just 19,162 fans per game.
Attendance bumped up to 27,219 for the final series against the Baltimore Orioles. But most fans came either to get their last glimpse of baseball before the winter or get their final words in to an ownership group that slashed $30 million in payroll coming off their most successful season since reaching the ALCS in 2002.
But even then, there’s a bigger issue looming with the on-field product. Winning is part of the equation, but this team has become masters of making mistakes at the wrong time.
Some of it is fundamental. Pablo López and Griffin Jax made errors against the Kansas City Royals last week, which proved costly in a series that had no room for error. The Twins fired hitting coach David Popkins after last season, but Matt Borgschulte has led a lineup that is averaging 3.44 runs per game. In the games when their offense shows up, the bullpen fumbles it away, making Twins fans feel like they’re playing the New York Yankees every night.
On Saturday, Jose Miranda was called out on a play at second base. While the throw beat Miranda to the bag, an errant throw pulled Detroit Tigers second baseman Colt Keith off the base, leaving umpire Malachi Moore to emphatically call Miranda safe. Unfortunately, Miranda’s mind was elsewhere as he trudged toward the dugout and was tagged out. The Twins later optioned him to Triple-A St. Paul.
Still, the biggest problem is that this team doesn’t have many players for fans to wrap their arms around. When the Twins were at their peak in the 2000s, they had many players for fans to cheer for. Johan Santana, Mauer, and Justin Morneau were elite-level players. Torii Hunter and Michael Cuddyer were All-Stars. There was even a place for role players like Nick Punto.
However, those days have passed.
Byron Buxton and Royce Lewis are exciting players, but their health makes it hard to fully embrace them. Minnesota’s top prospect, Walker Jenkins, is on the injured list for the third time in the past two seasons as he deals with an ankle injury. López also hit the injured list after hurting his hamstring last week.
After signing a six-year, $200 million contract in January 2023, Carlos Correa is the face of the franchise, but plantar fasciitis has derailed two of his seasons. He also tried to sign megadeals with the Mets and San Francisco Giants before coming back to Minnesota and has the lowest win probability added of any player on the team (-0.78).
Veterans like Christian Vázquez have tried to add excitement with a random Spartan helmet. But unless the Twins try to dig the rally sausage out of a nuclear landfill, it doesn’t seem like help is on the way.
That brings us to another key factor in the dwindling attendance. Fans have had enough of the Pohlad ownership. The long documented history – which includes Carl Pohlad threatening to contract the franchise in the early 2000s – has built up to Joe Pohlad’s “right-sizing” last winter. The pending sale took a wrong turn when Justin Ishbia pulled his bid last month, and fans are waiting for an announcement that the team will be pulled off the market (although nothing is official as of this writing).
For a franchise where everything that can go wrong has been going wrong for the past 18 months, it’s not surprising that fans have finally stopped coming to the ballpark. It’s a problem throughout baseball: “Sell The Team” has become as popular as “Take Me Out To The Ballgame,” but it hits differently for a team that actually has the talent to win its division.
It’s a franchise that could have a burning car serve as the state of affairs, leaving fans with one way to send a message that change is needed.
