The 2025 season began with a four-game losing streak, a sign of things to come for the Twins, who lost more than 90 games for the first time since 2016.
Eclipsing that, however, was a series of decisions that signaled a major shift in direction for a franchise that has been competitive for the past several seasons without making much of an impact in the postseason. With a different executive chair, team president and manager, the Twins have switched gears.
Over the past 12 months, the Twins moved from Joe Pohlad to Tom Pohlad as executive chair, from Dave St. Peter to Derek Falvey as team president, and from Rocco Baldelli to Derek Shelton as manager, seismic changes for a team that finished fourth in the American League Central and sparked ire among the fan base after sending 10 regulars away at the July trade deadline.
Here is a look back at the storylines:
Sale process takes a turn
Chicago-based billionaire Justin Ishbia emerged as a candidate to buy the Twins late in 2024; months later, he dropped his bid to buy the Twins and increased his stakes in the rival Chicago White Sox. The Pohlad family — which has owned the Twins since 1984 — continued to field offers, but Ishbia’s withdrawal seemed to be a turning point and the team ultimately remained in their hands. More on that down below.
Twins president Dave St. Peter
Dave St. Peter steps aside
In early March, after 22 years in the role and 35 years with the organization, St. Peter, the club’s longtime president, stepped aside and moved into an advisory role with the organization. St. Peter began as an intern in the organization in 1990 and worked his way to the top, calling his time with the Twins a “storybook run.”
In his place, the Twins promoted Falvey to a dual role of president of baseball operations, his job since 2016, and business operations. “Nobody not named Pohlad cares about the Minnesota Twins more than Dave St. Peter,” Falvey said at the time of the announcement. “Nobody ever has.”
13-game winning streak
The Twins began their season with four straight losses. They finished March/April 13-18.
But the beginning of May provided a glimmer of hope when the Twins rattled off a 13-game winning streak to pull themselves back above .500. A Kody Clemens three-run home run at Fenway Park, in front of his father — former Red Sox ace Roger Clemens — helped kickstart the streak.
The team weathered the losses of stars Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton, who collided during a game in Baltimore and suffered concussions, but was led by the starting pitching during the streak. They went two weeks without losing, remarkably similar to the way the team started slow in 2024 before winning 12 in a row.
Minnesota Twins’ Byron Buxton (25) acknowledges the crowd during a curtain call after hitting a solo home run for the cycle during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Saturday, July 12, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Buxton hits for the cycle
Buxton was a consistent bright spot all year. He made the All-Star Game for the second time in his career and just finished outside of the top-10 in MVP voting. He hit a career high 35 home runs and did that while playing in 126 games, the most for him in a single season since 2017.
He made some personal history on July 12, hitting for the cycle for the first time in his career on the same day the Twins passed out a “Buck Truck,” bobblehead. Buxton collected his single in the first inning, tripled in the second and doubled in the third. After another single in the fifth, he completed the cycle with a home run in the seventh.
Playoff hopes die
The Twins reached the All-Star Game break a couple of games under .500, well behind the Detroit Tigers in the division race but still in the mix for a Wild Card playoff spot. Had they played well out of the break, perhaps they could have convinced the front office to go in a different direction.
Instead, against the worst team in baseball, the Colorado Rockies, Chris Paddack gave up two doubles, a triple and a home run to the first four batters he faced and the Twins lost 2 of 3 in Denver to start the unofficial second half. They never recovered. Two more losses to the Dodgers in Los Angeles made for a dreadful, season-altering road trip.
A wild trade deadline
The selloff began on the Monday before the July 31 deadline when Paddack was shipped to Detroit.
On Wednesday, the Twins were blown out 13-1 the day before the deadline. During that game, utilityman Willi Castro was removed, prompting confusion and speculation that he had been traded. And in the ninth inning, after he was pulled from the game, reliever Griffin Jax yelled at manager Baldelli in the dugout in a fit of frustration.
Hours later, closer Jhoan Duran was sent to Philadelphia, and the very next day the front office executed seven more trades, shipping away most of the bullpen, some impending free agents and star shortstop Carlos Correa in a salary dump move. After that, the results on the field were predictably bad.
Pohlad family calls off sale
Just weeks after their trade deadline sell off, the Pohlad family announced that instead of selling the franchise, it would instead maintain control of the Twins and add limited partners, a move aimed at taming the team’s considerable debt. The decision drew disappointment from a fanbase that had largely been hoping for change.
It took months for the identities of the new minority owners to publicly emerge, but following approval by Major League Baseball, the Twins finally announced that Glick Family Investments, George G. Hicks — with a group of other local business leaders — and Wild owner Craig Leipold had joined the ownership group.
Rocco Baldelli fired
A day after finishing the season in fourth place for the second consecutive year, the Twins fired Baldelli. He had managed the Twins for seven seasons, leading them to the playoffs three times, but a late-season collapse in 2024 followed by 2025’s season spelled the end of his time in Minnesota.
In concert with ownership, Falvey said it was determined that this was “the right moment for a change in voice and direction.” The decision came after Baldelli’s contract option for the 2026 season had been picked up.
Derek Shelton hired
A little over a month after firing Baldelli, the Twins announced Derek Shelton as his replacement.
Shelton was a finalist for the managerial position in 2018 which went to Baldelli, his good friend. Instead, Shelton, who had served as the Twins’ bench coach that year under Paul Molitor, stayed in that position under Baldelli. He then departed to take over as manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, where he recorded a 306-440 (.410) record in five-plus seasons before being fired partway through the 2025 season.
Tom Pohlad takes over
The day the Twins finally released the names of their limited partners, they announced that Tom Pohlad would take over as the team’s executive chair, a role his younger brother Joe had held since November 2022. In addition, Tom Pohlad is expected to be approved as the organization’s Control Person, taking over that role from his uncle, Jim.
Tom Pohlad, who had been serving as the Executive Chairman of Pohlad Companies, was leading the sale transaction on behalf of the family. He takes over the Twins at a time when fan morale is low and anger at ownership is high. At his introductory press conference, he acknowledged the need to earn the trust of the fanbase back.
“We think that, with the conclusion of the transaction, now is the time to put new leadership in place and have a renewed sense of energy, a renewed sense of focus, a different level of accountability and, ultimately, a clear direction on where we’re taking this organization,” he said.
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