5 dates to watch for on Twins' 2020 schedule
MINNEAPOLIS -- The 60th season of Twins baseball in Minnesota will begin with the earliest Opening Day in club history and feature a visit to the Twin Cities by the Yankees on Father's Day Weekend and a chance for the potential top two finishers in the National League Most Valuable Player Award race to come through Target Field.
The 81-game home schedule includes visits to Target Field from three NL West opponents -- the Dodgers, Giants and Rockies -- and the reprise of 6:40 p.m. CT home games on weekdays in April, May and September for the Diamond Anniversary season in the Twin Cities.
• Twins' Spring Training schedule
Here's a look at some highlights of the Twins' tentative 2020 schedule, as announced on Monday afternoon by Major League Baseball:
March 26: Opening Day in Oakland
After the Twins braved a frigid 49-degree temperature at game time when they opened their 2019 campaign on March 28 at Target Field, the team won't need to worry as much about the cold next March, when it will be in California for the earliest Opening Day in club history as part of a four-game series against the A's at Oakland Coliseum.
April 2: Home opener
The Twins will begin their 11th season at Target Field on April 2, when they open with a three-game series against the A's before renewing their fierce American League Central rivalry against the Indians in a three-game series from April 6-8.
Target Field will host 16 games next April -- up from 12 this season. Most will come as part of a 10-game homestand against the Tigers, Mariners and Red Sox from April 17-26, when the local temperatures likely will have warmed up a bit.
June 21: Father's Day against the Yankees
One of the more anticipated 2020 homestands will come in mid-June, when Christian Yelich and the Brewers visit Target Field for two games (June 16-17), followed by the Yankees for a four-game set (June 18-21), culminating in a 1:10 p.m. CT series finale on Father's Day. The offensive fireworks of the three games between the Bronx Bombers and Bomba Squad at Target Field this season could be primed for an encore.
July 28: Bellinger leads Dodgers into Minneapolis
Twins fans could be spoiled with the opportunity to see both of the potential top two finishers in this season's race for the NL MVP Award at Target Field in 2020. After getting a look at Yelich in June, Cody Bellinger and the Dodgers will arrive in the Twin Cities for the first time since 2014 for a two-game swing on July 28-29.
That will only be the beginning of what shapes up to be a challenging and eventful eight-game homestand against the Dodgers, Astros and Indians -- all with the chaos of the July 31 Trade Deadline swirling in the background.
Aug. 31: The stretch run begins
An Aug. 31 home game against Cleveland will begin a stretch of 13 straight contests against division opponents as part of another September backloaded with AL Central clubs. Minnesota will finish the home portion of its regular-season schedule against the Tigers on Sept. 20 before finishing out the year on a six-game swing through San Diego and Kansas City.