The Minnesota Twins today announced their preliminary schedule for the 2021 regular season just as the teams are getting set to start play on the abbreviated 60-game schedule for 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic continues to affect sports across the country. The 2021 schedule returns to the full 162 game schedule. For the first time ever, the Twins will begin a season with Interleague play. Opening Day on April 1 takes the Twins to Milwaukee and Miller Park for a game against the Brewers. That will start a six-game, two-city road trip against the Brewers (April 1-4) and Detroit Tigers (April 5-7).
The Twins will also host the Pittsburgh Pirates (April 23-25) and Cincinnati Reds (June 21-22), while visiting the St. Louis Cardinals (July 30-August 1), Reds (August 3-4) and Cubs (September 21-22). The Twins will play each of their American League Central Division rivals 19 times apiece: the Chicago White Sox (9 home/10 away), Cleveland Indians (9 home/10 away), Detroit Tigers (10 home/9 away) and Kansas City Royals (9 home/10 away).
Minnesota is coming off a Central Division title prior to dropping another postseason series to the New York Yankees. The Twins are again favored to win the Central in 2020 despite the shortened schedule.
Currently, the team is working out at Target Field in preparation for the pandemic-shortened season. Players and staff are undergoing daily coronavirus tests, holding socially distant workouts, limiting access to the ballpark, and even so, some players have already tested postitive for coronavirus including Twins' slugger Miguel Sano. Sano now has to stay quarantined and test negative twice before he can rejoin the team.
As a contingency, team rosters have expanded to 60 players, with one group of players working out at Target Field, and the other in St. Paul at CHS Field in order to keep them distanced.