Twins 2018 season schedule released

It’s mid September and the Twins are in the thick of a playoff run, but enough about that. Let’s talk about next season!

MLB released the tentative 2018 schedule today, and there’s plenty of interesting tidbits in it. For instance, the Twins will be playing games next year. That is good news. The games will begin March 29th—the earliest Opening Day in history that isn’t played in like Japan or something. Opening Day will also be notable because all teams will open that day, which hasn’t happened since 1968. Oh, and it’s on a Thursday. Did the schedule people drank a case of Schlitz before writing this thing?

Anyway, the Twins will open the season against the Orioles in Baltimore, which is giving me deja vu. They will then head to Pittsburgh for a short two-game series against the Pirates, before returning to Minneapolis to face the Mariners in the Home Opener on April 5th. The average temperature in Minneapolis on April 5th is 52 degrees, but we all know there could be a blizzard that day too.

The Twins’ interleague match-ups will be against the NL Central division, which means six games against the Brewers instead of four! Because of schedule constraints, the Twins usually have to do that stupid weekday, two-and-two series against the Brewers, which makes it hard for Twins fans to make the relatively short trek to Miller Park—unless they happen to be unemployed and realize Bartolo Colon will be pitching and batting that night and drop everything to go to Milwaukee and eat brats, or something. Unfortunately for Twins fans, the three-game series in Milwaukee next year is still during the week, but it takes place July 2nd through the 4th, so maybe it’s part of a long weekend? If you’ve never been to Miller Park, you should definitely try to go! It was nicer than I expected. Plus, brats.

If you’re looking for more of a vacation than Wisconsin, there are plenty of other fun road trips Twins fans can take next year—including Puerto freaking Rico! The Twins will play two of their “home” games against the Indians at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan on April 17th and 18th (a Tuesday and Wednesday).

If you’re not ready to spring for a plane ticket and can’t swim that far, there are still some other fun road trips. For example, the Twins will be heading to Chicago to play the Cubs at a dump historic Wrigley Field the weekend of June 29th. They play the White Sox in Chicago right before that, and the Milwaukee series is right after, so you could make it like a three-fer and swing through all those places pretty easily. There’s also a neat little two-game series against the Cardinals in St.Louis in May, and another freaking four-game series against the Red Sox in Boston. Why does it seem like the Twins always play four-game series-es in Boston? Anyway, they play in a historical dump too. Kidding! Sort of.

Other notable things about the 2018 schedule:

• All teams will have four more off-days per year than in the past. It’s a thing in the new CBA.
• There will be one game played on the Thursday after the All-Star Game, instead of no games like in recent years. The Cubs and the Cardinals pulled the short stick on that.
• The All-Star Game is going to be in Washington, D.C. on July 17th.
• The Twins are also playing a four-game series against the Yankees in New York, which is just what we need—more games against the Yankees.
• The Twins will end their season at home against the White Sox on Sunday, September 30th (unless they make the postseason or end up in a five-way tie or something, of course).

If none of this is interesting enough for you, here’s the full schedule:

Happy?