First pitch: 3:10 Central
Weather: Cold and drizzly, THAT FITS, 38°
Opponent’s SB site: DRays Bay
TV: Twins TV, FOX 9 (maybe, probably?). Radio: Here’s the list of this year’s Treasure Island Baseball Network stations. Hiya Eau Claire!
The Athletic recently released their 2026 MLB Hope-O-Meter, surveying over 11,000 baseball fans on whether or not they are “optimistic” about their favorite team’s chances this season. Here’s what one fan had to say: “This team is just doomed. Utterly doomed. And frankly, as long as [the current owners are] in charge, it deserves to be.”
That fan was describing the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. They were 29th out of 30 teams for Fan Optimism, at 5.7% of fans being hopeful. Ranking 30th, with 4.3%?
Your Minnesota Twins. One fan said this: “I was sitting at the rehearsal dinner of my mother’s wedding when the Twins’ fire sale began. I sat in disbelief watching players be shipped out like Amazon packages. If her marriage fails, it’s the Pohlads’ fault.”
I would remind that fan, though, that when Arte Moreno bought the Angels and started spending a little more on players in the early 2000s, he was seen as a savior for the franchise. And now he’s despised. New owners can ALWAYS be worse.
My favorite take on the Twins came from some friends we were recently visiting down South, who moved there to be near their grandkids. One of these friends has been a Twins fan from their opening season in 1962. His daughter-in-law helped some Twins players find day care in the early 2000s, and the son/daughter-in-law got a nice present from one of those Twins for their wedding, a very fancy dinnerware set.
Guess which player spent nicely on the dinnerware set? Have you even READ this blog before? It has to be Nick Punto, and it was Nick Punto!
And that friend said he was as disgusted with the team as he’s ever been. Even more than when they lost Rod Carew because of Cal Griffith’s bigoted remarks.
Yeah, I think that frustration’s going around.
The way I choose to approach the team this year is like the way I approached them in 2001, my first full baseball season living in Minnesota, and the first time I paid any attention to the Twins. I’m going to assume this team completely sucks, and let them surprise me if they don’t. (I know 2001 was a long time ago, but the Twins were competitive right up until about the last month of the season.) If they surprise me, great! If they don’t, no big deal. I’m not going to put any emotional energy into this team until they make me.
Heck, there’s always the Saints to root for… whose pitchers walked 20 batters on Tuesday. I blame the guy who posted the Brian Dinkelman Memorial Link Dump; Dinkelman’s the manager of that squad.
TV Fun! TwinsDaily says this is on FOX 9 in the Twin Cities, and so does FOX 9’s website. MLB.com’s “Probable Pitchers” website doesn’t say that (it used to be a reliable resource for which games were on which channel, maybe it still is, I dunno anymore). So I guess we’ll find out? Here’s hopin’.
Here’s an official statement from the Twins on how to watch the games, with this handy explanation of blackout rules:
Um, doesn’t the last “no” contradict the first “yes”? Silly me, I thought the new way of doing things was going to end the idiotic blackout rules! Wasn’t I a dum-dummy!
As you enjoy the cold weather today, give a read to Al Yellon of BleedCubbieBlue, who really hates it that MLB schedules games in cold places in late March / early April. Anybody who likes Steve Goodman half as much as I do is OK in my book, whether you agree with Yellon on the weather or not.
Anyhoo, as to the Rays, they finished 77-85 last year, kept their best players, and added a few decent starting pitchers to the rotation. They’ve also got our favorite Air Force Academy grad, Griffin Jax, in the bullpen. Today’s Rays starter is Joe Boyle, who throws a high-90s fastball and high-80s slider, among a sinker and some offspeed stuff; he does tend to be around the middle of the plate, for guys who can hit such things. Boyle made his debut for the As in 2023 and burnt his mouth on coffee. So that’s what you know about Him.
Go Twinners go! I guess.
