An announced crowd of 22,526 fans ventured to Target Field for one final time this year on Sunday afternoon, watching the Twins deal a blow to the Cleveland Guardians’ playoff chances.

On a day when the Vikings kicked off at noon a mile away, and the Lynx were host to WNBA playoff game that started at 4 p.m. across the street at the Target Center, the stadium was half full — much like it has been all season.

It was a season-wide trend for the Twins, who drew the fewest fans in any season — excluding the pandemic-affected 2020 and 2021 seasons — since 2000 in the Metrodome. The announced-attendance total of 1,768,728 fans is down from 1,951,616 a season ago. The Twins averaged 21,836 fans a game, 24th out of 30 Major League Baseball teams, though two of those teams behind them are playing in smaller-capacity, minor league stadiums.

In a season in which the Twins are tracking towards finishing with the second-worst record in the American League, and fan discontent seems to have reached a peak, attendance took a hit. One fan in the stands on Sunday voiced his displeasure by sporting a Twins jersey that said “Fire Sale,” with No. 25 on the back.

While the results on the field played a result in their attendance undoubtedly, the Twins only dropped, on average, 796 fans per game after a trade deadline in which they traded away nearly 40 percent of the active major league roster.

Their lowest-attended home game came on a Monday in April when the Twins sold just 10,240 tickets to a game against the visiting New York Mets. That was the least-attended game in Target Field history aside from the COVID-affected seasons. Their highest attended game came on July 11, a game in which a pair of all-star starter Joe Ryan and Paul Skenes duked it out before a postgame Nelly concert. They drew 40,100 fans that night.

The Twins eclipsed 30,000 tickets sold in just seven of 81 home games this season.

Briefly

Manager Rocco Baldelli said he expected Ryan Jeffers, on the injured list with a concussion, to join the team on its season-ending road trip to play the Texas Rangers and Philadelphia Phillies. Fellow catcher Christian Vázquez, out since early August, is also expected to join the team in Texas after spending the weekend rehabbing with the Triple-A Saints. Vázquez is coming back from an infection in his left shoulder. … The Twins canceled rookie dress up last season in the midst of their late-season collapse, but it was back on this season with the team’s younger players getting ready for their Sunday night flight in outfits picked out just for them.

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Well, now what?

In the considerable shadow of Isaiah Rodgers on Sunday, Carson Wentz played the best game for a Vikings quarterback since Dec. 29, 2024, when Sam Darnold passed for 377 yards and three touchdowns in a 27-25 victory over Green Bay.

This is a development that, in Minnesota, could be eclipsed only by the kind of game Rodgers had in the Vikings’ 48-10 victory over Cincinnati at U.S. Bank Stadium. The cornerback returned an interception and fumble recovery for touchdowns, then forced a second fumble to start another touchdown drive.

In the first half.

You can’t take this one away from Rodgers and the defense, which forced five turnovers and consistently gave the offense a short field to work with. They were so good that Wentz, now a journeyman (where does the time go?) making his sixth start for a new team in six years, really just had to play clean to help the Vikings rebound from an embarrassing 22-6 loss to Atlanta last week.

But Wentz, 32, was better than that.

The numbers aren’t eye-popping — 14 of 20 for 173 yards and two touchdowns — but all intents and purposes Wentz was perfect. Pulled with a 48-3 late in the third quarter, he took some sacks early, but each was the smart move and he didn’t turn the ball over. His decisions were good, and his passes were accurate with the right touch.

Not bad for a guy who didn’t have a training camp, with the Vikings or anyone else.

So, now what?

Head coach Kevin O’Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah have a decision to make, or they will at least after next Sunday’s game against the Steelers in Dublin: Move on with veteran Wentz running the offense, or give the ball back to J.J. McCarthy, who is big, talented and has a strong arm but is essentially a rookie and looked like one in the Vikings’ first two games.
McCarthy showed some real moxie in a season-opening, Monday night victory at Chicago in his NFL debut, cinching his belt and leading a late touchdown drive to dispatch the Bears at Soldier Field. It was a positive sign.

Still, there’s no getting around the fact that McCarthy has otherwise been underwhelming, completing a combined 59 percent of his passes for 301 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. Maybe that’s to be expected, but considering the Vikings decided not to re-sign Darnold, and declined a one-year offer from Aaron Rodgers, maybe they expected more?

This team has made a lot of moves, and spent a lot of money, to be solid everywhere but quarterback.

Maybe Wentz can change that. The second overall pick in the 2016 draft, he is 47-46-1 as an NFL starter, passing for 153 touchdowns and 67 interceptions in 94 starts. Those are better numbers that Sam Darnold had before led Minnesota to a 14-3 regular-season record in 2024.

The Vikings have, in fact, done well with short-timer veteran quarterbacks. Brett Favre led the best Vikings team in years to the NFC Championship Game. So did Case Keenum after Sam Bradford aggravated an old knee injury. Heck, even Randall Cunningham had to come out of retirement before taking the Vikings to the now infamous 1998 NFC title game.

None of them reached the Holy Mountain. It has been mentioned in this space that expecting a rookie quarterback to lead a team there is nigh on delusional, and odd for a team that for the past two years has made a ton of good free-agent moves.

Maybe Wentz is the one that makes the biggest difference.

One game, especially one so dominated by the defense, certainly isn’t enough to decide whether this is even an issue, but O’Connell has to be stroking his chin. Internal competition can be productive, and if the Vikings have serious thoughts about making the playoffs — especially in a division with two other good teams — the only thing that matters here is performance.

Now, not later.

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There’s been little for Twins fans to cheer for lately, particularly in the second half of the season. But for one final day, Twins fans got to sit outside in warm, sunny weather and cheer on their team to a win.

In the final game at Target Field this season, those in attendance were treated to a well-pitched game with some late offense as the Twins snapped Cleveland’s 10-game winning streak with a 6-2 win in the finale of their four-game series.

Starter Simeon Woods Richardson set the tone on Sunday, giving up two runs in the first inning but turning in another solid performance to keep his team in the game.

Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan hit a leadoff home run, and Cleveland scored another run on a sacrifice fly before Woods Richardson got himself out of the inning. But he gave up just one more hit in his five innings and his effort, along with the bullpen’s, kept the Twins close long enough for the offense to claw back in it.

Kody Clemens’ third-inning single brought home Byron Buxton to cut Cleveland’s lead in half in the third inning, and in the sixth, Brooks Lee’s 16th home run of the season, a two-run shot, gave the Twins their first lead of the day.

The Twins continued to pile on in the eighth with pinch hitter Royce Lewis, in for Trevor Larnach, launching a three-run home run. All six runs the Twins scored in the game came with two outs.

The six runs the Twins scored held up on a day in which the bullpen threw four innings and gave up just one hit. Kody Funderburk, Pierson Ohl, Cole Sands and Travis Adams each tossed a scoreless inning to seal the win for the Twins.