Throughout the offseason, spring training, and the first half of the season, Twins officials were notably aligned in their messaging about the team's goals for 2026, repeating the same basic phrasing centered around "playing meaningful games in September" almost as if it were an agreed-upon talking point.
Interviewed at the annual media luncheon in mid-January, a month after taking over as the Twins' lead owner, Tom Pohlad set the theme for future goal-related messaging by saying: "We want to be playing meaningful games in September. I think we will be."
In late January, after announcing that longtime front office leader Derek Falvey had "mutually parted ways" with the team, Pohlad repeated the same phrasing, with a slight twist: "Let's judge the success of this year on wins and losses, and whether we’re playing meaningful baseball in September."
Jeremy Zoll, who replaced Falvey as the leader of the front office and received a promotion to general manager, stuck with the same messaging six months later, saying in early July: "I think it's always been everyone's goal, we've talked about it a lot, of wanting to play meaningful games in September."
In late July, as part of laying out the front office's plans to be buyers at the August 3 trade deadline, Zoll said: "If we go back to spring training, we spent a lot of time talking about our goal was to play meaningful games in September."
There are plenty of similar quotes that could be added to the pile, but you get the idea. It's clear Pohlad and Zoll were in lock-step regarding the goal for the season that they wanted to put forth publicly, to the point they made repeated reference to their own previous statements on the subject.
Play meaningful games in September.
That was likely a true representation of their internal goal after cutting payroll by another $30 million following a 92-loss season. But it also conveniently served to level-set public discourse at a relatively low bar. After all, "play meaningful games in September" is, crucially, not tied making the playoffs or even a winning record.