MN Twins Fans Make Hatred for Pohlads 98.5% Loud and Clear

Entering the 2025 Major League Baseball season, the Minnesota Twins were seen as legitimate playoff contenders and favorites to win the AL Central.

Fast forward a few unfortunate injuries and some really bad baseball later, their postseason dreams were already dead and, instead of being buyers at the MLB trade deadline, they were the league’s most active sellers.

Not only did the front office ship out 40% of the active roster roster, in the days leading up to the July 31 deadline, but the headlining departures went far beyond expiring contracts.

MN Twins president Derek Falvey and the Pohlads dealt Carlos Correa and all of their up-and-coming bullpen assets, no matter how much team control they had remaining. When it was all said and done, the only sliver of hope remaining for fans was the ongoing sale of the organization, after it was put up for sale in October, 2024.

Then, of course, the Pohlad family took the Minnesota Twins off the market, instead swindling two new minority investment partners into buying off their debt, in exchange for their small share in the flailing baseball franchise. In the weeks that have followed, fans have responded in kind.

Hatred for Pohlads loud and clear in recent fan poll

Not only has Target Field struggled to get more than 10,000 physical fans in the stands, but a recent poll ran by The Athletic allowed them another outlet to voice their frustration with the Twins, as an organization.

Of course, fans mostly used it as another way to show the Pohlads that they are more disliked in this town currently, than possibly ever before… and that is saying something.

Of nearly 6,000 respondents, 98.5% voted that the Pohlads should sell the team. That means that just 87 of 6000 voters for them to keep the team they’ve owned for over 40 years.

It’s difficult to get 98.5 percent of people to agree on pretty much anything, but the idea of the Pohlads no longer owning the Twins carries an approval rating that’s probably on par with “pizza tastes good” and “dogs are cute.” And as the responses to other questions show, it’s part of a larger theme.

Aaron Gleeman – The Athletic

It’s curious why those 87 respondents would want the Pohlad family to stick around. Then again, as Aaron points out, it’s impossible to get 6000 people to agree unanimously on anything, and 98.5% is an extremely high number, no matter what vote is taking place.

Pohlads participating in the poll…?

Also, let’s remember that Pohlad friends and family members have access to the internet, too, and there is some inconclusive evidence suggesting that there may have been some Pohlad participation within these votes.

Longtime Twins fan, reporter and analyst, Aaron Gleeman — who’s been one of the media members in town most publicly critical of the Pohlads — draws some interesting hypotheticals from the results a question further down The Athletic’s poll, asking what grade fans are currently giving the MN Twins owners .

This largely matches the results from the survey’s first question, with 98.2 percent of voters giving the Pohlads a D or F grade, compared to 98.5 percent wanting them to sell the team. And that includes 89.5 percent assigning the owners a failing grade, four times the front office and manager combined.

Since you’re probably curious: 0.2 percent assigning ownership an A grade equals a total of nine responses out of nearly 6,000. For some context, there are coincidentally also nine people with the last name “Pohlad” or “Falvey” listed on the leadership page of the family’s business website.

Aaron Gleeman – The Athletic

Related: KFAN Host Goes Nuclear on Minnesota Twins Owners

One thing we know for sure from the results from The Athletic’s poll: Minnesota Twins fans hate the Pohlads. It’s a fair take, given what one cheapskate family has done to try and destroy summer for baseball fans in the state.

Even prior to the current iteration of Pohlads, it was their grandfather — arguably the only successful business person in family history — who just 20 years ago tried to sell what is now a multibillion dollar asset back to the league for a measly $250 million.

Before then, he spent the 90s tearing down one of the greatest professional sports teams ever assembled in Minnesota sports history, after the Twins won two World Series in four years from 1987 to 1991.

Thus, it’s extremely unlikely the family will ever be forgiven, and they have done themselves no favors moving forward either. Not after Joe Pohlad & Co. decided to “right size the business,” following one of the greatest seasons in the past two decades, then tore it down to its studs at the trade deadline.

MN Twins can thrive despite Pohlad grip…?

If there is hope for the future, it is in that the on-field product has plenty of youth to supplement the big league roster. Of course that requires the front office to put the right development pieces in place. They have accomplished that on the mound to a certain extent, but the hitting development has alluded them.

Any front office would be better able to operate with more resources at their disposal. For Derek Falvey and Jeremy Zoll, that’s simply not going to happen in Minnesota. If they want to get the team back on track, it will take looking internally and winning on the fringes.

Related: Report: Minnesota Twins Owners Still Plan to Sell

There is a path forward even if the Pohlads remain head honchos. For now that’s the path Minnesota must navigate. Maybe the long term view of a sale isn’t dead either, and that’s a hope we can all dream on.