The Twins' Honeymoon Period At Target Field Is Over
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- In their final home game of the 2014 season, the Minnesota Twins treated their fans to something rather uncommon: a victory.
The team now has four games left in Detroit before the season ends. It's the fourth straight season that the Twins have lost at least 90 games.
They still averaged nearly 28,000 fans a game, which is better than 11 other major league teams. But it's a far cry from the first two seasons at Target Field, when nearly every game was a sellout.
There's a certain core group of fans who will show up at Target Field no matter what. Tiffany Basdeo of Burnsville, for instance, says she has been unfazed during the long string of losing seasons.
"They could lose every game at Target Field and I would be their number-one fan," she said.
That core group, though, is getting smaller by the year. In each of the first two seasons at Target Field, the Twins drew 3.2 million fans. This season, they drew 2.2 million.
"I mean it's tough," said Joel Felberg of Rogers. "How many 90-loss seasons, you know, are you willing to keep supporting?"
Some season ticket holders told us they hope this was Ron Gardenhire's last home game as manager.
Others say they only renewed this season to get All-Star Game tickets.
Carolyn Guy of Robbinsdale said she'll buy another season ticket package next season, but it's been hard getting others to go in with her, and buy the tickets she can't use.
"The first year was real easy because everybody was excited about the ballpark," Guy said. "It's an awesome stadium."
Former Twin Kent Hrbek hopes fans don't lose interest.
"I think if we get a couple guys that can pitch, throw the ball over the plate, there's no reason why they can't go from worst to first," Hrbek said, "because I've seen it happen."
Twins spokesman Kevin Smith said it's too early to gauge how many fans are likely to renew for next year. But the team will have organizational meetings in October to talk about ways of improving the roster.