Wind and Kauffman Stadium Fountains Wreak Havoc on Twins' Broadcast

An amusing subplot of Thursday's Twins-Royals game in Kansas City, at least for viewers at home, was the effect the windy conditions had on the television broadcasts from both teams. Wind gusts kept picking up water/mist from the fountains in center field at Kauffman Stadium and blowing it onto nearby cameras, leading to some blurred shots and altered approaches from the production teams.

Here's one example of what it looked like, at times, when the broadcasts tried to use the center field camera angle that is standard for all pitches in baseball.

The wind in Kansas City is blowing the fountains all over the center field camera pic.twitter.com/fQTR7SNa4c
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) April 2, 2026

Instead of having that happen over and over, the production crews wound up going to their feed from behind home plate for some pitches.

"We're showing you a different image of the at-bats here today because our cameras in center field are just not able to work right now with the wind that we have, blowing the moisture from the fountains into the lenses on the cameras," Twins.TV play-by-play announcer Cory Provus said in the fifth inning.

Another shot from the Twins' broadcast in the sixth inning shows their center field camera operator — who must've had quite the day — wiping off his lens after an obscured pitch.

pic.twitter.com/S3Bz5fPo7T
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 2, 2026

The Twins won the game, 5-1, to avoid a three-game sweep in Kansas City. They got a great start from Taj Bradley and three ninth-inning home runs that created some separation on the scoreboard.

The weather in Kansas City was also a major factor in Wednesday night's game, which was a 13-9 Royals win. That game was played through fairly constant rain, which at times seemed to be strong enough to warrant pausing the action. A run scored in the third inning because no one on the Twins could see an infield pop fly through the rain and fog. Twins starting pitcher Joe Ryan had a tough time keeping his footing and his grip on the ball during a rough outing.

To be fair, the weather was part of the equation for both teams, and the Royals handled it much better in jumping out to a 12-1 lead through six innings. The Twins ultimately came a bit short of mounting a massive comeback in a game that took 3 hours and 36 minutes — the longest game at Kauffman Stadium in the pitch clock era.

This also isn't the first time this season the Twins' TV broadcast has dealt with a challenge. They experienced some non-weather-related technical issues last weekend in Baltimore.

Unfortunately, weather could continue to be a factor when the Twins return home this weekend for their first series of the year at Target Field. The temperature highs are expected to be in the upper 30s and low 40s over the course of the weekend, with rain in the forecast. Such is life in the Midwest in April.