Inside The Twins

Over 2 million people watched the Twins get embarrassed by Tarik Skubal

Sunday Night Baseball viewers witnessed a feeble performance from Minnesota against one of MLB's best pitchers.
Will Ragatz|
Jun 29, 2025; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) throws a pitch against the Minnesota Twins in the third inning at Comerica Park.
Jun 29, 2025; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) throws a pitch against the Minnesota Twins in the third inning at Comerica Park. | Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images

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Minnesota Twins

Over 2 million people watched the Twins get embarrassed by Tigers ace Tarik Skubal on Sunday Night Baseball, according to ESPN and Nielsen data.

The broadcast averaged 2 million viewers — up 66 percent from ESPN's Rangers/Orioles broadcast on June 30, 2024 — and peaked at 2.3 million. For the season, SNB is up 11 percent from last year, making it ESPN's most-watched season since 2017.

Those numbers are encouraging for the game of baseball and an argument for putting smaller-market teams on ESPN's Sunday night broadcasts more often. So often, we see the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Phillies, Dodgers, and other major-market teams get that time slot and platform. A big national audience got to watch a dominant performance from Skubal, the reigning AL Cy Young winner, and a win for the Tigers, who have been one of the best teams in the league since last August.

But from a Twins perspective, it might've been nice to have their most-watched game of the year include a Minnesota highlight or two. Skubal struck out eight of the first nine batters he faced and finished with 13 strikeouts over seven scoreless innings. Playing on Sunday Night Baseball for the first time since 2020, the Twins managed two total hits — a fifth-inning single by Ty France and an eighth-inning infield dribbler by Harrison Bader — in the 3-0 loss.

Skubal is incredible, but it was a pretty punchless showing from the Twins in front of the nation. And maybe that's fitting, given the season they've had. The 40-44 Twins rank 18th in runs scored this year.

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Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ

Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI, who also covers the Twins, Timberwolves, Gophers, and other Minnesota teams. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.

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