The Minnesota Twins are opening the 2026 season with a new manager, a rebuilt front office, and a roster that looks a whole lot different than the one that won the AL Central in 2023.

After going 70-92 last year and trading away 10 players at the deadline, the outside world has largely written Minnesota off.

Advertisement

Lewis Isn’t Buying It

Third baseman Royce Lewis doesn’t care what the projections say.

He’s heard all the talk about this team being one of the worst in baseball, and none of it lines up with what he sees when he looks around the clubhouse.

Lewis spoke with The Athletic during spring training and didn’t hold back.

“People talking about we’re going to be a below .500 team, that’s kind of wild,” Lewis said. “I’m looking at our (pitching) staff, guys on this roster. It doesn’t make sense to me. We have a lot of first-rounders, we’ve got a lot of high draft picks, (top) prospects. I don’t understand it. That’s neither here nor there. People have their opinions. I don’t just agree with their opinions. I would just say I disagree.”

Advertisement

He’s not the only one in the clubhouse who feels that way either.

Pitcher Bailey Ober told The Athletic that the team doesn’t care about the outside noise, and first-year manager Derek Shelton has been pushing a “hunt the good” mentality since he arrived.

The Twins open Thursday at Camden Yards against Baltimore with Joe Ryan on the mound, so the chance to back up that talk is here.

Why the Doubt Exists

The skepticism isn’t coming from nowhere, though. FanGraphs projects them as a sub-.500 club, and Minnesota lost ace Pablo López to Tommy John surgery on the first day of camp, which wiped out what was supposed to be the anchor of the rotation.

The team’s payroll sits around $105 million, one of the lowest marks in the league, and roughly 30 percent of that goes to López and Carlos Correa, who won’t play a single inning for them this year after Correa was traded to Houston last July.

Advertisement

The bullpen might be the biggest question mark of all.

After trading away five key relievers at the deadline last summer, the Twins enter 2026 without a closer and a relief corps that is mostly unproven.

The Case for Believing

Still, Lewis has a point when he talks about the talent on this roster.

The Twins are loaded with former first-round picks and top prospects who are entering the season with something to prove.

Luke Keaschall posted a .302 average and .382 OBP across 49 games as a rookie last year, and guys like Brooks Lee, Matt Wallner, and Trevor Larnach are all being counted on to take steps forward.

The rotation behind Ryan features Ober, Taj Bradley, Simeon Woods Richardson, and Mick Abel, all 25 or younger with real upside.

Advertisement

Lewis himself is at a crossroads after slashing .237/.283/.388 across a career-high 106 games in 2025, a far cry from the player who helped carry Minnesota through the 2023 postseason.

He overhauled his swing mechanics this offseason with a new hitting coach recommended by Bobby Witt Jr., and the early returns in spring training looked promising.

Nobody is picking the Twins to run away with anything, and there are real reasons for the doubt.

But inside that clubhouse, the belief is real, and Lewis is making sure everyone knows it.