FORT MYERS, Fla. -- A little more than two weeks into Twins camp, the vibe around the CenturyLink Sports Complex is already noticeably different from a year ago.

Scores of national media members have been filtering in and out since day one, because the Twins have one of the more nationally relevant stories to tell this year. Josh Donaldson is walking around the clubhouse in a Twins uniform, signed to the most lucrative free-agent contract in club history.

Oh, and those two words are openly being thrown around by player after player: World Series.

"I think that everybody comes here to win the World Series," Eddie Rosario said. "I think that's the real focus right now, for this year. More of a focus than before, when I played here in 2015 and '17. The focus this year is to go to the World Series."

"We've got a great lineup, but we're not looking for the Bomba Squad this year," Miguel Sanó added. "We got our [MLB home run] record, and I don't think they can break it too quickly. This year, we've got something better. We've got a World Series. We're playing for the World Series."

As the foundation of a 101-win team and division champion in 2019, the Twins' offensive core showed that it's ready to win now. The front office responded with an aggressive offseason push unseen in the recent history of this team, not only adding Donaldson to one of the league's most potent lineups, but also the likes of Kenta Maeda, Rich Hill, Tyler Clippard, Homer Bailey and Alex Avila to round out a deep, complete roster.

All the pieces appear in place for the Twins to finally shake their playoff demons (16 straight postseason losses) and take the next step with a deeper run through October. Can they capitalize?

What's the goal?

Another promising Twins squad was derailed by -- who else? -- the Yankees last fall, when Minnesota was vanquished in an American League Division Series sweep after the offense went quiet against a beatable Yankees rotation. The talent on the Twins' roster was undeniable, especially on the offensive side. But a combination of relative youth and inexperience and a lack of depth in the starting rotation likely contributed to the Twins' early exit.

The goal, then, is to assemble, develop and maintain enough depth -- homegrown and veteran -- to spur another division title, then to match up with the Astros, Yankees or whichever team they meet in the playoffs and finally, at minimum, get over the first-round hump. Given the lofty standards set last season and the front office's busy winter, anything short of that would likely be a disappointment.

"It's hard to have a chip on your shoulder when nothing has happened to you in a playoff series before," reliever Trevor May said. "Ever since that moment, since Game 3 was over, I'm [ticked] off about it. ... Now, I've had that experience and I'm going to take that to a playoff series. I think that feeling is with everyone. I can see it. We expect to go back. We expect to have an opportunity to play that team again.

"And we expect for it to be different this year."

How do they get there?

The Twins' easiest path for improvement would have been to add a front-line starter during the offseason, but when that quest failed, they added Donaldson to push their lineup over the top. Even with some built-in regression, that lineup should be more than fine. It's tough to project bullpen performance for any team in any season, but it's difficult to imagine this relief corps being a liability.

With that in mind, a key to the Twins' success will be in continued steps forward from the starting rotation. They'll need José Berríos to blossom into a true playoff ace and maintain his elite form through a full season, and not just the first half. They'll need Jake Odorizzi and Michael Pineda to build on very strong 2019 campaigns. They'll need a healthy Hill to join the rotation sometime in the summer and for Maeda to respond well to the added workload of starting for a full season. Finally, they've built up plenty of back-end rotation depth in Bailey, Jhoulys Chacín, Devin Smeltzer, Lewis Thorpe and Randy Dobnak. Any upside or consistency from members of that group would go a long way.

What could go wrong?

Health, health and health. On a macro scale, the Twins again saw the domino effect last season of a Byron Buxton injury on their roster composition and depth. If Hill, soon to turn 40, doesn't rebound from his offseason elbow surgery in the way that he hopes, the Twins will be down an experienced arm that they are counting on for meaningful playoff innings. On a micro scale, the wear and tear on players like Jorge Polanco, Rosario, Max Kepler, Luis Arraez, Marwin Gonzalez and C.J. Cron served as a very real hindrance to performance late last season.

The Twins do have the depth to survive an injury or two anywhere, and it certainly helps that they also have several high-upside prospects waiting in the wings that could be Major League-ready at some point this season. But any injuries would introduce variance and risk to a roster that otherwise looks to have relatively stable and projectable performance this season.

Who might surprise?

Thanks to all of the offseason additions, most of the players on the Twins' projected 26-man roster have established expectations of success. Still, the club would love to see more surprises akin to the production that Arraez, Dobnak, Smeltzer, Tyler Duffey and Zack Littell gave them last season despite the fact that none of those players was on the Opening Day roster.

Pitching prospect Jhoan Duran could be poised for a similar impact this season. The 22-year-old right-hander is now on the 40-man roster and boasts a fastball that touches the triple digits alongside a unique sinker-splitter hybrid that has stymied Minor League hitters. He and fellow top prospect Jordan Balazovic are said to be nearly Major League-ready as starters, and Duran's power stuff could also play in the bullpen, if needed, at some point this season.