The Minnesota Twins embark on their 2026 campaign along with most of the league Thursday on Opening Day, visiting the Baltimore Orioles in their season opener.

While this might be projected as a down year for Minnesota, there are plenty of key storylines and playmakers to monitor.

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First, here’s a look at the odds you need to know around this year’s squad:

*Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook and are subject to change.

Win Total – O/U 72.5

Divisional Odds – +900 (4th best Odds in AL Central)

Playoff Odds – +425 (3rd Worst in American League)

World Series Odds – +10000 (26th of 30 Teams)

ESPN.com has an article out highlighting many of the storylines to watch this season:

24. Minnesota Twins

Projected record: 78-84 | (Doolittle’s odds: 19% playoff | 0.5% WS)

The thing we’ll be talking about most this season: The organization’s unclear plan.

The Twins dealt 10 players from their disappointing 26-man roster at the trade deadline last summer. Two weeks later, the Pohlad family announced it was pulling the franchise off the market and would instead seek new investors. The next step seemingly was trading the other established players who could fetch worthwhile returns over the offseason. But the Twins stood pat to compete in a winnable AL Central and kept starters Joe Ryan and Pablo Lopez.

Then, on Jan. 30, president of baseball and business operations Derek Falvey left the organization after nearly a decade. Then, López underwent Tommy John surgery, and Ryan suffered a back injury during spring training that kept him off Team USA. Ryan is expected to be ready for the start of the season. The Twins need him if they’re going to compete. — Castillo

Most likely 2026 award winner: Joe Ryan, AL Cy Young. Ryan has put up consistent results during his career, even as he has expanded and diversified his arsenal of pitches. As he enters his age-30 season, he’s at a stage where he might be ready to really amp up the volume, and if he can get to 190 to 200 innings, he’s likely to earn some Cy Young support. Perhaps the bigger question is whether he’ll still be with the Twins by the time his candidacy is evaluated. — Doolittle

One (realistic) bold prediction: In doing this through the years, we’ve found that predicting in-season trades is more difficult than expected, but this is BOLD predictions after all, and the Twins don’t look like contenders, so that makes Ryan one of the likeliest trade candidates. He’s still under team control through the 2027 season, but that only increases his trade value because he can affect two pennant races. How about Ryan to the Brewers at the trade deadline? — Schoenfield

How they can be 2026’s biggest surprise: The Twins drafted Royce Lewis in the first round in 2017, Trevor Larnach in the first round in 2018, Matt Wallner in the first round in 2019 and Brooks Lee in the first round in 2022. All of them, to varying degrees, are still waiting to make their imprint in the major leagues.

With the Twins flailing, the pressure off and opportunities vast, this is in some ways a fork-in-the-road year for all of them. And if you think it’s too late for some, consider how long it took Byron Buxton — a first-round pick in 2012 — to fully come into his own. — Gonzalez

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TwinsDaily.com also has their full season preview out as well, including thoughts on the pitching rotation without Pablo Lopez.

The Twins visit the Orioles for a three game series Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday to begin their 2026 season. Listen to Minnesota Twins baseball all season long on ESPN 102.3 AM 1000 KSOO!

Sources: TwinsDaily.com, ESPN.com and DraftKings Sportsbook

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Gallery Credit: Bert Remien