It’s been rough 2021 for the Twin, who came into the season with high expectations. Being in last place heading towards August, the team has already parted with two big names in Nelson Cruz and José Berríos.
Related
As they play out the string over these next two months, we now have 2022 to look forward to following the release of next season’s schedule.
To begin, Opening Day is scheduled for Thursday, March 31 where the Twins will be in Chicago to take on the (currently) division leading White Sox. That kicks off a two-city road trip which heads to Cleveland following three in Chicago.
The Home Opener will be a week later, April 7 against the Seattle Mariners. The Twins are home for six games with Seattle followed by the LA Dodgers, who no doubt will be excited to be in Minnesota in April.
There is always high interest in the 20-game Interleague series. In 2022, the Twins will take on teams in the National League West, along with the traditional Border Battle rivalry series with the Milwaukee Brewers (July 12-13 at Target Field and July 26-27 in Milwaukee).
Minnesota’s home Interleague schedule includes a pair of three-game series with the Colorado Rockies (June 24-26) and San Francisco Giants (August 26-28). In addition to the series in Milwaukee, the Twins will also play road Interleague sets at the Arizona Diamondbacks (June 17-19), San Diego Padres (July 29-31) and Dodgers (August 9-10).
Also of note, for the first time, all Twins home weekday night games Monday through Thursdays will have a 6:40 p.m. scheduled first pitch. The last couple of seasons those start times only took place in April, May and September with summer weeknight games starting at 7:10.
Some other highlights include:
· Minnesota opens on the road for the fourth time in five years and the tenth time in the last 13 seasons.
· The Twins host Seattle for a second-consecutive Home Opener and third in the last five seasons.
· Minnesota opens the second half with a doubleheader on Saturday, July 23 at Detroit, the club’s first scheduled doubleheader since May 26, 2001, when the Twins hosted Oakland at the Metrodome.
· The Twins’ 20 home games in August are the club’s most in a single month since playing a Minnesota-era record 22 at Metropolitan Stadium in June 1977; it will also be just the seventh month since 1961 that the club has played at least 20 home games (21 in May 1961, 20 in June 1963, 21 in June 1967, 20 in July 1973, 20 in July 1975 and 22 in June 1977). The previous Target Field high was 18 on five occasions, including May 2021.
· The August 26-28 series marks the first-ever Target Field appearance for the San Francisco Giants, who were slated to visit Minnesota in the original, pre-pandemic 2020 schedule. The Giants are the only team that has not yet played at Target Field since the ballpark opened in 2010.
· The Twins are on the road for all the major summer holidays. They’re in Detroit Memorial Day, Chicago for the 4th of July, and in New York to take on the Yankees on Labor Day.
2022 game times, along with broadcast information, will be announced at a later date.