Twins president speaks to season ahead, new watching options for baseball fans

Twins fans began flocking to Target Field at 6 a.m. Thursday for an annual free breakfast ahead of Minnesota’s home opener.

But as usual, there’s an air of hesitation around any Minnesota sports team’s chances.

Right now, nearly the entire American League Central is tied for first — except the Twins, who are a half game behind the other four teams in the division. The Twins lost 5-2 to the Houston Astros in Thursday’s home opener, after a two-game winning streak.

If you can’t make it to downtown Minneapolis, there are new ways to watch Minnesota — win or lose — in 2025.

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Derek Falvey recently stepped into a new role as President of Baseball and Business Operations for the Twins. He joined Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer to talk about what’s in store this season.

The following has been lightly edited for clarity. Listen to the full conversation by clicking the player button above.

After losses at the season’s start, do you think the Twins are finding their footing?

We got off to a slow start and certainly weren’t hitting the ball the way we wanted to. I think the last two games and the two wins we had with a little momentum coming home really showed the team that I believe we have.

Pablo López was great [Wednesday]. Our hitting came together. Some guys stepped up, some new players, like Harrison Bader, played really well for us. So we feel we have a great team and are looking forward to the season ahead.

After Bally Sports North blackouts last year, are there new ways to watch this season?

Now with our own broadcast, Twins.TV, you can watch online. We additionally partnered with FOX 9 to put 10 over-the-air broadcasts on different Tuesdays throughout the season. In addition to that, there'll be another handful of games that will be nationally broadcast over the weekend, too.

So there are a number of over-the-air television games; I think it’s great for baseball. You know, we got away from it as an industry for a period of time, but I remember as a kid watching so many of those over-the-air games on national broadcasts, and I’m excited about the chance and the reach that that allows for across all of Twins territory.

What has the launch of direct-to-consumer Twins.TV been like?

It’s actually gone really smoothly for us on this end. On opening day, there were a few challenges along the way and early on in the day. Maybe to our benefit, we had a rain delay in St. Louis, so they had [any issues] all squared away by the time it kicked off. So we've had a really smooth experience.

For many Twins fans, you still get to see Cory Provis and Justin Morneau in the booth. You still have Audra Martin on the sidelines. So for many people, it’ll feel the same. The benefit is that we get to control a lot more of our broadcast, do a lot more in-game hits with players, to engage with the players in a way that's different than before, and hopefully will provide another perspective for the game.

Do you know of any movement on potential buyers for the team?

What we’ve been told by the Pohlad family is to continue to operate with business as usual. That's an external process that's handled outside of here. What I will say is the Pohlads have owned this team for 40-plus years. Nothing has changed in terms of their passion and their belief in the Twins and what the Twins represent in this community.

I’m sure when there's an update, with respect to the family, that’ll be shared, but I feel very confident that we have the group here and the organization that's going to make our fans proud.

What do you say to fans who may worry that the ownership uncertainty could affect performance?

It’s something that gets discussed publicly but candidly inside the clubhouse. Our guys are so focused on the day-to-day — our staff is, our players are — and we certainly try and keep that separation. And I've been fortunate that that's the case.

So trust me, our players show up every day. They're focused on how to win that night's game.

Is the home opener akin to the first day of school excitement?

It absolutely is. I mean, if you're a fan of baseball in any way, and even if you aren’t, there’s a certain energy around the ballpark in any city on opening day, and it's particularly true here. Downtown lights up. It's a great experience.

You see the community around the ballpark, whether it's the bars, restaurants and the scene beforehand and after the game, it's a tremendous amount of energy. So I hope people can come down to experience it along the way. It'll be a great day for baseball.