There's not a ton of excitement around the Twins right now. Allow us to provide some hope.
Another 162-game marathon of a season for the Minnesota Twins gets underway on Thursday in Baltimore. Typically, this time of year is about hope and excitement for the upcoming baseball season. Whether the previous year went well or was disappointing, spring is when fans talk themselves into being optimistic about their favorite team's outlook.
Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of positivity around the 2026 Twins right now. And it's understandable. Payroll cuts over the last few years, the Pohlad family reversing course on its plan to sell the franchise, and a historic fire sale at last year's trade deadline have drastically reduced fan interest and excitement, if game attendance and online comments are any indication. We're not here to tell any fan how to feel. But if you're someone searching for a little bit of hope or a little bit of reckless optimism, this is the article for you. We're going to dive into five bold predictions for the 2026 Twins that would be quite fun to see come to fruition. Realistically, none of these are all that likely. That's why they're bold predictions. But they're also not going to be completely implausible; we think all of them are within the realm of possibility. If we get one or maybe even two right, that would be a win. Let's dream big.Byron Buxton is coming off of easily the best offensive season of his major league career. He finally stayed relatively healthy, with his 126 games played trailing only his 140 from a breakout 2017 season. And he was excellent at the plate, hitting a career-high 35 home runs while posting an .878 OPS and making his second All-Star team. Buxton also still has elite sprint speed despite being in his early 30s now. He used that speed to steal 24 bases without being caught a single time. He even stole third base for the first time in his MLB career in late August.Our bold prediction for Buxton is that he improves on both of those numbers and joins the 40/30 club in 2026. All we need is five extra homers and six extra steals. Of course, what we're really relying on here is health. But we don't even need him to play in 150 games. Buxton is legitimately capable of putting up 40 and 30 in, say, 135 contests. That would especially be true if new manager Derek Shelton encourages him to swipe third base somewhat regularly. For context, there have only been 16 40/30 seasons in MLB history, seven of which have come since 2000 .Outside of Buxton, there may be no more exciting reason to tune into the Twins this year than to watch Luke Keaschall play. The 23-year-old was electric in an injury-shortened 49-game rookie season, hitting .302 with four home runs, 14 stolen bases, and an .827 OPS. All he's done this spring is build on that hype by hitting .360 and posting an OPS above 1.100.Keaschall figures to be the Twins' everyday leadoff hitter. He's not a guy who is going to hit a ton of home runs, but he does have some power. Where Keaschall will shine is with batting average and stolen bases. He's going to stay hot when the regular season begins, hit over .300 with plenty of extra-base hits and steals, and earn a trip to the 2026 All-Star Game in Philadelphia alongside Buxton. If he does, he'd be the first Twins player to be an All-Star within their first two seasons since Francisco Liriano in 2006 — and the first hitter since Chuck Knoblauch in 1992. Joe Mauer wasn't an All-Star until his third season. Our rather bold prediction is that Keaschall will do it in year two.This is the year it clicks for Matt Wallner. He had a disappointing 2025 season, hitting just .202 while playing in a career-high 104 games. Even if the year didn't quite go how he hoped, the pride of Forest Lake, MN still hit 22 home runs and had a 110 OPS+, which means he was 10 percent better than an average MLB hitter. In each of the two prior years, Wallner had an OPS+ above 135 in about 75 games' worth of action. Now's the time for the 28-year-old to put it all together. He's had another very strong spring training, hitting .356 with three homers and an OPS over 1.100. Wallner obviously isn't going to hit for that kind of average against MLB pitching, but he'll be in the .250 range and smash his career high in home runs. In fact, he'll join Buxton, Nelson Cruz, Max Kepler, Brian Dozier, and Josh Willingham as the only Twins players since Harmon Killebrew to hit 35 bombs in a season.he’s changed his set-up a bit, closing his open stance some and getting into his hinge more most notable difference to me is how his head doesn’t travel as far to when the ball is in hitting zone This century, a Twins pitcher has recorded 200 strikeouts in a season seven times. Johan Santana did it four years in a row in the 2000s, and it's also been done by Liriano, Jose Berrios, and Pablo Lopez. Joe Ryan certainly has a strong chance to join that club this season, considering he's recorded strikeout totals of 197 and 194 within the last three years. But that wouldn't qualify as a bold prediction. What does qualify as bold is saying that Mick Abel will reach 200 Ks in his first full MLB season. And that's exactly what we're doing. Last year, between the minor leagues and the big leagues, Abel threw 137.1 innings and struck out 153 batters. At that rate of strikeouts, he'd need to get to about 180 innings to reach 200 Ks. That means staying healthy all year, pitching well, and making 30-32 starts.It's bold, for sure. But Abel has been lights out this spring, with 23 strikeouts, 3 walks, and a 2.00 ERA in 18 innings pitched. He's a former top-50 prospect in baseball with electric raw stuff. And he's about to put together a heck of a 2026 season, emerging as the Twins' No. 2 starter behind Ryan.It's safe to say that if all four of the above predictions come true, the Twins are going to be very successful in 2026. But none of those necessarily have to happen for this team to surprise people, exceed their win projections, and win the AL Central. After all, they don't exactly play in a juggernaut of a division. Detroit and Kansas City appear to be the favorites, but neither is projected to win more than 85-86 games. Cleveland seems likely to take a step back. There's a path for the Twins to claim the division title with around 86-90 wins, like the Guardians did last year and the Twins did in 2023. For that to happen, the Twins' offense — led by Buxton, Keaschall, and Wallner — has to produce at a high level. The starting rotation, led by Ryan and perhaps Abel, must be solid. And a mishmash bullpen is going to have to find a way to not be a disaster, at the very least.in the upper minor leagues on the way this summer. If certain players find their groove, this group might just turn out to be pretty fun.Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI, who also covers the Twins, Timberwolves, Gophers, and other Minnesota teams. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.
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