MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — One of Tom Pohlad's priorities over his first month as controlling owner of the Minnesota Twins was personal phone calls to fans on a list of 50 people who have yet to renew season tickets for 2026.
Many of his attempts went to voicemail. One recipient hung up three times, assuming a prank, before replying to Pohlad's follow-up text message with some pointed criticism about the direction of the franchise.
“Let’s say the response wasn’t necessarily kind back, but hopefully the effort counts for something,” Pohlad said this weekend at Target Field, where the Twins held their annual fan festival.
The Twins have a big hole to climb out of, as far as their relationship with the customers. Pohlad recently took the reins of the franchise his grandfather bought in 1984, replacing his younger brother as part of a new executive leadership structure created with the addition of three new investors who purchased non-controlling stakes in the club. He has vowed to tackle the organization's recent slide head-on, already with a more public-facing approach to the role than his brother, uncle or grandfather took in their tenures as controlling owner.
The current disappointment within the fan base stems from the front office's decision to pare back the payroll after winning the AL Central in 2023 and advancing in the postseason for the first time in 21 years. Pohlad pointed to several factors such as the pandemic and the collapse of the team's regional television contract that hurt the Twins financially over the past five seasons and influenced that decision to spend less on the roster, but he fully acknowledged how much of the strain was self-created.
“In a lot of things we tripped over ourselves, if you will, and we certainly didn’t do a good job communicating what we were going through and what we were trying to accomplish,” Pohlad said. “You take that all together and it’s a recipe for a very challenging time. We’re trying to hit the reset button — not a rebuild button, but a reset button. Bring in some new energy, a different sense of urgency and accountability, and figure out what we want to do going forward. That, frankly, is how do we build a team that can compete and play October for a string of seasons in a row?"
Pohlad has also made a point to connect with the players, meeting in person recently with center fielder Byron Buxton and starting pitcher Joe Ryan and planning a conversation with starting pitcher Pablo López this weekend at the fan festival. All three of those All-Stars were prominently bandied about on the trade rumor mill since last summer, when the Twins dealt 10 players during the week leading up to the deadline.
But while the payroll is still significantly down from recent seasons, the Twins refused to trade their top trio and made some modest investments in enhancing the roster by signing veterans Josh Bell, Victor Caratini and Taylor Rogers.
“The one thing I told the front office, ‘I would like to be a part of this rotation going forward,’” López said, adding: “I want to be part of a rotation that can really let people know how far a pitching staff can take a team.”
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FILE - Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Pablo Lopez throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals, Sept. 5, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Defending champion Madison Keys has been knocked out of the Australian Open by fellow American, and podcast pal, Jessica Pegula.
Pegula, seeded sixth, defeated the ninth-seeded Keys 6-3, 6-4 on Monday at Rod Laver Arena to reach the quarterfinals for the fourth time in Australia.
Pegula raced to a 4-1 lead in the first set and took it in 32 minutes. She then broke to open the second set and again surged to a 4-1 lead as Keys struggled on serve. The match ended when Keys hit a forehand into the net.
“I’ve been playing really well, seeing the ball, hitting the ball really well this whole tournament, and I wanted to stay true to that,” said 31-year-old Pegula. “Then just lean into a couple things that I felt like she would do, and I felt like I came out doing it pretty well
“When I had the lead I tried to stick with that as much as I could.
“Even when she got a little rhythm back, I just really tried to focus on what I needed to do and patterns to look out for.”
Pegula and Keys had played three times previously, and Keys had won the last two. But on Monday it was Pegula that had the upper hand almost throughout on the back of her serve accuracy and few unforced errors.
The 2025 champion lamented not taking advantage in the second set when she had chances. But Pegula would not let her.
“I think she (Pegula) did a really good job from the start of just being the one that was dictating and in charge,” Keys said. “I felt like if I didn’t hit a really good ball immediately, she was in charge of the points.
“I was kind of struggling to kind of get that dominance back,” Keys added. “Then I feel like especially in the second set I felt like I had some opportunities to break that I wasn’t super happy with, just kind of quick errors and not playing the best points in big moments.”
Pegula's best performance in a major was making the U.S. Open final in 2024, where she lost to Aryna Sabalenka. She will face either No.4-seeded Amanda Anisimova or Wang Xinyu next.
In a later match Monday at Rod Laver Arena, fifth-seeded man Lorenzo Musetti faced American Taylor Fritz, who is seeded No. 9.
In night matches, second-ranked Iga Świątek was up against Australian Maddison Inglis, and the eighth-seeded man Ben Shelton faced Casper Ruud.
Novak Djokovic was due to be the feature night match at Rod Laver Arena on Monday but has had a walkover into the quarterfinals after his opponent Jakub Mensik withdrew from their scheduled fourth-round match with an abdominal injury.
Jessica Pegula, left, of the U.S., is congratulated by her compatriot Madison Keys after winning their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Madison Keys of the U.S. plays a backhand return to her compatriot Jessica Pegula during their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Jessica Pegula of the U.S. plays a backhand return to her compatriot Madison Keys during their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Madison Keys of the U.S. reacts during her fourth round match against her compatriot Jessica Pegula at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Jessica Pegula of the U.S. plays a backhand return to her compatriot Madison Keys during their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
