Have the 2026 Twins Overachieved, Underachieved, or Somewhere In Between?

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

4 hours ago, LastOnePicked said:

Here's a decent benchmark: attendance.

Twins set a record for low attendance last year. This year they're running 3% below last year's totals. If the goal was to boost fan interest, they have clearly underachieved. 

Ownership said it's a "win-now" era. Fans didn't believe it and the team certainly hasn't proven them wrong.

Last years team completely fell apart.  The fact that they are only down 3% is impressive.   Ownership can say it was win now,  but everyone else knew that wasn't realistic.    I watched some competitive baseball this year and the Twins stayed in the playoff race for the majority of the year, and maybe just maybe they go on a run to make it interesting down the stretch.  

[LastOnePicked]

10 minutes ago, Hawkeye Bean Counter said:

Last years team completely fell apart. 

Sounds familiar.

11 minutes ago, Hawkeye Bean Counter said:

The fact that they are only down 3% is impressive. 

No. Sorry, no. I know that Twins Territory requires a lot of pig lipstick, but not even Gerrit Cole can offer the kinds of spin needed to make that statement work.

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

24 minutes ago, LastOnePicked said:

Sounds familiar.

No. Sorry, no. I know that Twins Territory requires a lot of pig lipstick, but not even Gerrit Cole can offer the kinds of spin needed to make that statement work.

I thought they would be down by 15-20%.  At least 10%.  

The difference between last years team and this years team is last years team had expectations to win.  No one other than Tom expected this team to win.  That this team is struggling down the end stretch trying to count on several young players is not surprising.  Matthews, Priellip and Bradley are affectively holding your starting pitching together.  

[Mike Sixel]

7 minutes ago, Hawkeye Bean Counter said:

I thought they would be down by 15-20%.  At least 10%.  

The difference between last years team and this years team is last years team had expectations to win.  No one other than Tom expected this team to win.  That this team is struggling down the end stretch trying to count on several young players is not surprising.  Matthews, Priellip and Bradley are affectively holding your starting pitching together.  

Teams don't lose 20% of their attendance. Not in the era of boxes and huge companies buying them. 

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

2 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Teams don't lose 20% of their attendance. Not in the era of boxes and huge companies buying them. 

Based on the way Tom was cold calling previous ticket owners led me to believe there was a significant reduction in fan engagement for tickets.  

[LastOnePicked]

17 minutes ago, Hawkeye Bean Counter said:

I thought they would be down by 15-20%.  At least 10%. 

Again, they were already at record low attendance.

In a year in which they actually claimed to be "trying to win," by the way.

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

11 minutes ago, LastOnePicked said:

Again, they were already at record low attendance.

In a year in which they actually claimed to be "trying to win," by the way.

Attendance fell off a cliff after the trade deadline.  

[TheLeviathan]

2026 Post-Deadline Attendance: 22,915 (number is slightly skewed by the small sample plus the Philly series.  Didn't include the Iowa game)

Pre-deadline - 21,078

2025 Post-deadline: 21,586

Pre-deadline 20:25: 21, 969

There isn't much evidence by way of attendance that this team has anything but the diehards showing up at this point.  The only way out is a true winner IMO.

[RpR]

3 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

2026 Post-Deadline Attendance: 22,915 (number is slightly skewed by the small sample plus the Philly series.  Didn't include the Iowa game)

Pre-deadline - 21,078

2025 Post-deadline: 21,586

Pre-deadline 20:25: 21, 969

There isn't much evidence by way of attendance that this team has anything but the diehards showing up at this point.  The only way out is a true winner IMO.

People who are baseball fans are showing up, simple as that.

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

1 hour ago, TheLeviathan said:

2026 Post-Deadline Attendance: 22,915 (number is slightly skewed by the small sample plus the Philly series.  Didn't include the Iowa game)

Pre-deadline - 21,078

2025 Post-deadline: 21,586

Pre-deadline 20:25: 21, 969

There isn't much evidence by way of attendance that this team has anything but the diehards showing up at this point.  The only way out is a true winner IMO.

Did you watch any games on TV at the end of last season?  It was extremely sparse.  I don't care what they had for ticket numbers - the attendance these last couple of series has been much better than last years.  Its not 1000 person difference.  

[TheLeviathan]

8 minutes ago, Hawkeye Bean Counter said:

Did you watch any games on TV at the end of last season?  It was extremely sparse.  I don't care what they had for ticket numbers - the attendance these last couple of series has been much better than last years.  Its not 1000 person difference.  

For the record, I agree and thought there would be a greater disparity.  Unfortunately there is no reliable way to differentiate paid vs. actually there.

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

We are right near where people figured we should be. 

A weak AL has us in a playoff hunt and instead of selling expiring contracts and calling up young guys at the deadline, we were buyers. Delayed some arrivals. 

 Its been a fun year