So Far, Tom Pohlad Feels Like a Change for the Better

[Cody Christie]

Image courtesy of © Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

When the offseason began, most people expected continuity in the Minnesota Twins' ownership structure. Instead, the winter delivered a surprising shakeup. After the Pohlad family sold minority shares of the franchise, leadership within the organization shifted in ways many did not expect.

For years, Joe Pohlad was the public-facing leader of the club. However, as the offseason unfolded, Tom Pohlad stepped forward to guide the organization. The transition became even more notable later in the winter, when longtime president of baseball operations Derek Falvey stepped away from the Twins. With that departure, Tom Pohlad took on an even more prominent role and assumed responsibility for the business side of operations heading into the 2026 season.

The sudden shift caught many fans off guard. Ownership changes rarely happen in such a visible way during an otherwise quiet winter—and this one came just a few months after the fan base was crestfallen to learn that there wouldn't be a more official transfer of power. Since taking over, however, Pohlad has implemented several noticeable changes. Some have been widely welcomed, while others still leave observers wondering about the long-term impact.

Since Tom took over, there have been some obvious changes that can be viewed in multiple ways. Let’s dive in.

Around the Team More Regularly
Pohlad has been vocal about his intention to stay close to the team. That promise has already been visible. He spent significant time at spring training with his entire family during the club’s stay in Florida. The visibility has continued into the regular season.

Players have seen him greeting them outside the locker room after big wins. He spoke to the club during the celebration marking Byron Buxton reaching 10 years in the big leagues. He also made the short trip to St. Paul for the Triple-A home opener to support the organization’s top minor-league club.

In short, Pohlad is more visible around the organization than any member of the ownership group has been in recent memory. That level of involvement can be encouraging, especially for fans who often wonder how closely ownership is involved in the day-to-day operations of the team. At the same time, some will naturally wonder where the line lies between supportive presence and over-involvement.
Rating: Somewhere in between. The jury is still out.

Speaking to the Press More Often
An extension of being around the team more frequently is that Pohlad has also become more available to the media. Reporters now have the opportunity to ask him questions when situations arise during the season.

Under previous leadership, media availability from ownership was rare. It usually happened before the season began, after the season ended, or during major organizational announcements. Regular conversations with ownership during the middle of the 162-game grind were almost nonexistent.

No one expects ownership to address the press daily, and that should become unnecessary over time. However, the willingness to speak when something noteworthy occurs provides needed clarity for fans and transparency for the organization.
Rating: Positive. Increased communication is generally a good thing.

Cheap Beer and Other Happy Hour Specials
Beyond Pohlad’s personal visibility, the Twins have clearly made an effort to reconnect with fans. Attendance and fan sentiment have taken a hit over the past couple of seasons, and the club appears determined to change that narrative.

One initiative has been the introduction of $2 beers before first pitch on Friday and Saturday home games. The idea is to create a happy hour atmosphere leading up to the start of the game. On certain nights, the team has also offered discounted snacks and hot dogs.

Ballpark prices have steadily climbed across the league, especially for families attending games together. Creating opportunities for fans to save money while enjoying the ballpark experience is an easy way to build goodwill.
Rating: Positive. Lower-cost options benefit both the fans and the atmosphere.

Drop in Ballpark Pass Price
Another fan-friendly move came with the adjustment to the team’s Ballpark Pass. This season, the Twins lowered the early purchase price to $229 for the entire year, if fans bought the pass early in the offseason. The pass grants entry to every home game, including Opening Day, though it does not guarantee an assigned seat.

If a fan attends every home game, that works out to less than $3 per game. There is also a monthly option at $59 for fans who prefer flexibility rather than committing to the full season. Last year, the pass carried a price tag of $324.

The reduced cost makes the product far more accessible, especially for younger fans or people who simply enjoy stopping by the ballpark for a few innings.
Rating: Positive. This is a creative way to fill the stadium.

Opening Day Fiasco
The home opener at Target Field did not go according to plan. An hour-long power outage delayed fans from entering the ballpark, leaving thousands standing outside waiting for the gates to reopen. Opening Day always draws one of the largest crowds of the season, so the situation created plenty of frustration.

The organization responded quickly once the issue was resolved. The Twins extended the pregame happy-hour prices through the end of the second inning to ensure that fans who had been waiting in line could still take advantage of the deals. While the outage itself was not ideal, the response softened the blow.
Rating: Positive. The team made a quick adjustment to improve a difficult situation.

Redoing Opening Day
The Twins took things one step further in the days following the outage. As an additional gesture, the team offered fans who purchased Opening Day tickets a free ticket to the April 17 game against the Cincinnati Reds.

That game will feature another round of happy-hour specials, a live band during the pregame celebration, and fireworks after the final out. The organization could have easily blamed the outage on factors outside its control and moved on. Instead, the team chose to turn the moment into another opportunity to reconnect with its fan base.
Rating: Positive. It shows a willingness to go the extra mile for fans.

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Not every development will be universally praised, and some observers will continue to watch closely to see how involved ownership becomes moving forward. Still, the early moves suggest a real effort to increase transparency and rebuild goodwill with fans. For an organization entering a new chapter, that may be exactly the type of start the Twins need.

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What are your thoughts about the changes made under Tom Pohlad? Leave a comment and start the discussion.

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[DJL44]

The Happy Hour is the best promotion they have come up with in years.

[bean5302]

23 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

The Happy Hour is the best promotion they have come up with in years.

Though it is really infuriating the bartenders and service industry staff who are seeing sales during the game dropping to nothing. The $0.20 tips they're getting per drink has killed them.

I do think it's a great promotion. I also think the Twins should take over what was First Draft Tap Haus in North Loop. Like very much so. Turn that into a Twins bar, offer pre-game happy hour, and a tailgating-like experience, ticket giveaways, bingo type things, etc. Get their presence out into the local scene and get immediate area fans into the Twins.

[NYCTK]

Ok, well, he's still a Pohald so he can gtfo. 

Sell the team. 

[nicksaviking]

46 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

The Happy Hour is the best promotion they have come up with in years.

I haven't been during this iteration. Last time they did this, it was only available at three stands, which means you'd have get there early just to wait in line for 45 minutes and get just one $2 beer.

But as much as I don't like what's going on off the field, or the disinterest in paying for good players, I'll give Tom credit for being very visible and very open to the media at a time I was convinced the entire family was going to hide in a cave.

[Nshore]

The biggest draw is the product on the field of course.  Tom Pohlad already made a confident statement that the Twins will contend this year.  IMO that was pretty important.  That gives the effort some positive energy.  And if they actually DO contend - one year after turning their bullpen inside out, and then losing Lopez for the year - they should give Pohlad some kind of Bill Veeck award for ownership genius.

[NYCTK]

Just now, Nshore said:

And if they actually DO contend - one year after turning their bullpen inside out, and then losing Lopez for the year - they should give Pohlad some kind of Bill Veeck award for ownership genius.

That'd be like giving the owner in the film Major League credit for the team turning around their season. 

[Nshore]

Just now, NYCTK said:

That'd be like giving the owner in the film Major League credit for the team turning around their season. 

My comment was somewhat tongue in cheek.  But having said that, I'm not sure fans know how involved he is in day to day personnel decisions and hands on operations.  Hopefully not Steinbrenner level.

[The Great Hambino]

2 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

That'd be like giving the owner in the film Major League credit for the team turning around their season. 

That was basically the original ending of the film!  There's a version out there where she congratulates the team and tells them that all the cuts/threats to move/etc were just a motivational ploy.

Thankfully test audiences sent that BS into the 13th row like Mutombo, and we got the infinitely-better ending that made it to the final copy.

[DJL44]

43 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Though it is really infuriating the bartenders and service industry staff who are seeing sales during the game dropping to nothing. The $0.20 tips they're getting per drink has killed them.

My god, tip your bartender $1. Cheapskate Minnesotans.

17 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

I haven't been during this iteration. Last time they did this, it was only available at three stands, which means you'd have get there early just to wait in line for 45 minutes and get just one $2 beer.

Based on crowd sizes I have seen on television, three stands should service the whole crowd with no issues. People waiting too long is an execution problem that can be fixed. 

[bunsen82]

Seriously . . .   We think this version is better exactly why???

This team is the team Falvey and him created.  Remember this is the guy who effectively told Falvey you will be the fall guy if this doesn't go well and Falvey was like,  yeah I'm not going to stick around for this.   

This Pohlad said he was go big or go home.  He also said we would have some big additions after the Caratini and Bell signing specifically in the bullpen (also after we had signed back Rogers).  We signed some dfa relievers and traded some international cash for Banda.   

That this team has done well has no reflection and whether Tom is good or not.  

I am still open minded.  Even still at least Joe opened the purse strings once.  I don't see that happening with Tom and his angel investors.      

[jmlease1]

It's a start? For me the rubber meets the road when we see what they do with payroll, what they do to grow the fanbase and market the team, etc. The biggest failure of the Pohalds as owners has been the almost impossibly bad decisions on the business side of things. They have totally failed on the media side of things, between failing at their attempt to create their own network, lagging desperately behind on streaming, continuing to try to go to the well of the RSNs when they were obviously failing (and not really preparing for the collapse), failing to grow the fanbase regionally, etc. Has that improved? We'll see.

Notably, their PR has been dreadful, mostly related to ownership: tone-deaf and stupid. That has improved, as Tom Pohlad is a far smoother and more polished messenger than Jim or Joe ever were. He's correctly acknowledged that they've lost faith and credibility, and while there's been some fakery, it's no more than I would expect from any team owner. 

Tom has improved the vibes, which is a start. The team surprising basically everyone by playing pretty well to start the season certainly is helping that a lot. I mean, the Tom Pohlad Presence didn't make much difference when we were losing series to start the season. But the visible and accessible presence does help.

I still would have preferred they sell the team, but at least I don't feel like the ship is crashing with no one at the wheel.

(I do feel a little bad for Joe, who seems like a very nice guy that actually loves baseball, but really didn't have the ability to be the front-facing owner...and at the end of the day probably didn't have the authority to call all the shots, either. Can't be easy to see the generally good things people are saying about Tom and how "things have improved" with ownership)

[nicksaviking]

4 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

My god, tip your bartender $1. Cheapskate Minnesotans.

Based on crowd sizes I have seen on television, three stands should service the whole crowd with no issues. People waiting too long is an execution problem that can be fixed. 

Things may be going well on the cheap beer front. As a beer snob I wasn't going to wait in line for Coors Light anyway. 

And agreed. Tip your servers. These people are almost all volunteers anyway. Working for good causes getting a small cut from the concessions to raise money for their charities or clubs or whatever. Tip all servers, but especially ones giving up their day for good causes. 

[C-Gangster]

I Mean they seem like good people but a good person and a good owner are 2 very different things. But I think for the most part Tom is doing a decent job. He is also very good at making connections with fans which I respect.

[old nurse]

When the Correa trade went down the negotiations ran through Jim Pohlad. Jim controlled the money. Jim had the say in how the team would be run.  Joe was just sort of like the press secretary and a chief of staff. He got to talk to the press and handle the mundane. 

[CRF]

He has absolutely nothing to do with the way they're playing and their record. He's just the most recent cheapskate Pohlad to be in charge. 

[Richie the Rally Goat]

36 minutes ago, old nurse said:

When the Correa trade went down the negotiations ran through Jim Pohlad. Jim controlled the money. Jim had the say in how the team would be run.  Joe was just sort of like the press secretary and a chief of staff. He got to talk to the press and handle the mundane. 

Evidence?

edit: found the source

Jim being a CPA really clarifies the root cause of the Pohlad Pocket Protector brigade, jeepers!

also Tom was the executive chairman of Pohlad companies and former COO of a car dealership. This really explains the changes so far!

[Hrbowski]

It's felt like a breath of fresh air. So far so good...

[Richie the Rally Goat]

I was not expecting to see anything I agree with. I am pleasantly surprised.

i also think these very positive activities/outcomes are being weighed far too heavily. These are inexpensive and superficial gestures that don’t indicate an actual change in how the team is run. It’s the start of a change in how the fans are valued, but again, superficial, depth of commitment needs to be proven.

[Rosterman]

The thing is the Twins still play is a pretty weak division, and if Job #1 is to win (or place) in your division, you have to realize thatn just spending, p[erhaps, a tad more on some quality would put you closer to the top, baring injuries.

$2 beers are nice for a Happy Hour before a Twins game, but you still have to (a) find parking (b) take the light rail.

The Twins have at least 20 players on their 40-man that will be contributing to the team as players in 2027. Most all with promise of multiple year tenures with the team, and another five beyond that on the cusp. So internatlly, the team looks good... FOR THE FUTURE.

[Doctor Gast]

ROX are a bad team, yet they still pack them in. What I heard it's mainly the cheap beer, So, MN must have finally taken note.

Tom Pohlad has said that he's not baseball smart, so I'm not afraid of him taking over the baseball opps. He'll find someone that he can trust who he believes knows what they are doing & hand it over to them. 

I still like the Twins to fill the holes in the pitching, especially a high-leverage RHRP. But with everything up in the air after the offseason, I'm sure it takes time to find your footing to establish relationships with other FOs.

[bean5302]

Also, feels like this is a "winning fixes everything" kind of article, LOL.

2 hours ago, DJL44 said:

My god, tip your bartender $1. Cheapskate Minnesotans.

Based on crowd sizes I have seen on television, three stands should service the whole crowd with no issues. People waiting too long is an execution problem that can be fixed. 

the defaults on the registers are based in percentages. $2.00 beer = $0.30 tip.

[bean5302]

Also, this article is feels like a "winning fixes everything" scenario haha

[Rhyno006]

Kind of feels like this article would hit differently if the Twins had started 6-10 but at least Tom seems to be trying. That's nice short term and the team is winning, so yay. As salty as I was about them in the offseason, I have really enjoyed watching them so far. Again, winning while generally playing decent ball surely helps this current sentiment.

Taking a long haul approach, the looming labor dispute could change a lot of things. If that is somehow avoided then what the Twins do with payroll moving forward will tell me all I need to know about how they are planning to run the team in the future.  

[darin617]

3 hours ago, DJL44 said:

The Happy Hour is the best promotion they have come up with in years.

If it went to the 3rd or 5th inning it would be great. 

[Craig Arko]

Yeah, maybe. It will be interesting to see how this plays out through next year’s CBA negotiations. 

[darin617]

To be honest, lets all just ignore all Pohald nonsense until after the possible lockout this offseason. They will not be even trying to sell the team until the new labor agreement is signed. The teams value will be greater then. So sadly we all have to wait quite a while for a new ownership group.

I can't wait for them to be gone from Minnesota.

[Linus]

He’s doing something different which is a start. We will see over the long run if he is a substantial improvement. Just stay out of the baseball side. 

[Jim H]

If Tom Pohlad was responsible for Falvey leaving, that would be a positive from m point of view. Other than setting the budget and picking top management, usually the less involvement in the operation of a sports franchise by the owners as possible, is better for the success of the franchise.

[Nshore]

New promotion - one lucky fan per game is chosen at random and granted the privilege of smoking a cigar in the stands to bring back the memories of the old Met Stadium.