The Pohlad family have announced plans to sell the Minnesota Twins and end their 40-year ownership of the Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise.

Through Twins executive chair Joe Pohlad, the family on Thursday revealed their intention to explore a sale of the team they’ve owned since 1984.

The 40-year period marked the fourth longest among all active ownership groups in MLB.

Joe Pohlad said: “For the past 40 seasons, the Minnesota Twins have been part of our family’s heart and soul.

“We’ve never taken lightly the privilege of being stewards of this franchise. However, after months of thoughtful consideration, our family reached a decision this summer to explore selling the Twins. As we enter the next phase of this process, the time is right to make this decision public.”

Only the Steinbrenner family in New York (Yankees) and Jerry Reinsdorf of the Boston White Sox have owned their respective franchises as families for longer than the Pohlads have in Minnesota.

Carl Pohlad, grandfather of Joe, led the initial purchase in 1984 from the Griffith family, which had relocated the franchise from Washington DC to Minnesota in 1961.

Since then, control ownership has passed to Jim Pohlad - son of Carl - who inherited the family business with brothers Bill and Bob upon Carl’s death in 2009.

The team announced in 2022 that Joe Pohlad - nephew to Jim - would take over primary administrative duties of the Twins while Jim remained control owner of the organization.

The Twins could become the fifth organization to undergo a sale in the last five years. In that time, the Miami Marlins, New York Mets, Kansas City Royals and Baltimore Orioles have all changed ownership since 2018.

The Orioles’ controlling stake was most recently purchased by David Rubenstein’s group for $1.73 billion in March.

Joe Pohlad added: “Our goal is to be as informative as possible with the team, staff, and the fans. It’s our objective to find an ownership group who all of us can be proud of and who will take care of the Minnesota Twins.”

During Carl Pohlad’s tenure, the franchise won its two World Series championships, in 1987 and 1991. He also navigated the club through a proposed MLB contraction at the end of the 2001 campaign.

This season, the Twins failed to reach the MLB playoffs after finishing fourth in the American League Central division.