A Tiny Schedule Perk for the 2024 Twins

[Ted Schwerzler]

The Dodgers are a superteam, and under MLB's new schedule system, there's no dodging any team for a full season. The Twins will get their games against the new Evil Empire out of the way early, though, which could be to their benefit.

Image courtesy of © Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

A season ago, the Twins played the Los Angeles Dodgers in California in May. Rocco Baldelli’s club got walked off in the first contest, bounced back to win the second, but then lost the rubber match. Dave Roberts’s team wasn’t the same juggernaut last year (at least at that early juncture), but with Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts, they still had a potent lineup.

The Twins get a break this season, if you can call it that, when they host the Dodgers at Target Field. Not only does that series happen during the second full week of the season, but April isn’t likely to be a kind weather month for anyone. Los Angeles came to Target Field in 2022 for an April series, and Clayton Kershaw flirted with a no-hitter on a (relatively) balmy day.

Therein lies the first benefit for the Twins. Kershaw is currently a free agent, and while it remains likely that the Dodgers are the only team he would re-sign with, that point isn’t likely to come until well into the 2024 season. He underwent offseason surgery and won't pitch until at least midseason. Kershaw is a future first-ballot Hall of Famer who has long been among the game’s most dominant pitchers. Even at a more advanced age and having dealt with different maladies in recent seasons, he continues to put up ridiculous numbers.

Kershaw hasn’t started more than 24 games in a season since 2019, but he continues to dominate every time he’s on the mound. Across 24 starts last year, the Dodgers southpaw put up a 2.46 ERA with strong secondary numbers. He earned another trip to an All-Star Game and somehow felt like an overlooked arm amid a sea of strong hurlers in 2023.

Along with Kershaw being absent from the bump, so will the Dodgers' $700 million man be. Shohei Ohtani secured the bag in the biggest way this offseason, and while he is a two-way star, he isn’t going to operate that way in 2024. After undergoing a second Tommy John surgery (or its internal-brace cousin, with much the same effect), he will only be a designated hitter for Los Angeles when they face Minnesota. Not having to face him on the bump is a nice reprieve for the Minnesota lineup.

Ohtani’s absence from the rubber isn’t quite as notable as Kershaw’s, given his abilities in the batter’s box. While Twins hitters won’t have to face the fireballer at the dish, the pitching staff must contend with his ability to change the game with a single swing. Escaping Ohtani isn’t something that teams can do by focusing on just one of his talents, and that’s why his payday was such an exorbitant amount.

The Dodgers will remain a juggernaut regardless of which pieces they are initially missing. They also paid Yoshinobu Yamamoto to be their next star arm and traded for Tyler Glasnow. It remains likely that they will continue to spend, and additional enhancements for the lineup could still be coming. The rotation has some question marks, with Bobby Miller being the third pitcher and Walker Buehler coming back from Tommy John himself, but the roster is impressive.

For Carlos Correa, Byron Buxton, and the rest of the Twins roster, playing against a World Series contender out of the gate will give them a good measuring stick opportunity. Teams ebb and flow as the season progresses, but rosters like the Dodgers will undoubtedly be around in October. Seeing and competing against that competition early can help identify specific strengths and weaknesses.

The Twins host Los Angeles Monday through Wednesday, April 8-10. With the first two contests being night games, the series' final game is a 12:10 pm game before Minnesota heads out to Detroit.

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[TopGunn#22]

It certainly IS an advantage to be playing the Dodgers in Minnesota so early in April.  But it's also a bit of a shame as well.  Target Field should be PACKED for those games, but if the weather is early April nasty, that could affect the box office negatively.

That Dodgers lineup is going to be pretty top heavy with Mookie-Ohtani-Freeman-Will Smith in the first 4 spots.  How the rest of the Dodger lineup does will depend on which version of Max Muncy they get in 2024 and how young players like Lux, Outman, Vargas and Busch progress.  The first 4 could be epic in terms of runs scored and runs driven in.  The last 4 could be pretty weak.  

[Blyleven2011]

Bring them on , I'm always up for a challenge  ....

[Original_JB]

I'm thinking along TopGunn#22's line; with this odd December weather, I'm going to go with the Twins having their 1st two series washed out due to cold/sleety/snowy weather (April 4,6,7 (CLE) and 8,9,10 (LAD)), with the rest of the season thrown into turmoil with having to squeeze 6 extra home games into the schedule right off the bat.

Went and took a peek; Twins only have 8 days off between the start of the season and the All Star break, and 2 of those are straddled by away series, so only 6 'make-up' days available there. We do have a home series against CLE starting Aug 9th if they needed to do some doubleheaders to fit games in. 

[DJL44]

2 hours ago, TopGunn#22 said:

It certainly IS an advantage to be playing the Dodgers in Minnesota so early in April.  But it's also a bit of a shame as well.  Target Field should be PACKED for those games, but if the weather is early April nasty, that could affect the box office negatively.

The lower bowl should be packed.

I'm surprised nobody here has started a discussion about the Twins announcement that they aren't opening up the upper deck until May unless the lower deck sells out. I'm not a fan of artificially reducing supply to make Twins fans pay more for tickets in April.

Twins tickets go on sale Wednesday | kare11.com

[Old Twins Hat]

Dodgers have spent a BILLION dollars on free agents so far this off-season.  BILLION with a B.

Baseball needs to do something before L.A. just ups and buys an entire team Division,.

CRAZY amount of money.

 

[Whitey333]

You mention Buxton?  Who's that? Lol

[Ted Schwerzler]

22 hours ago, DJL44 said:

The lower bowl should be packed.

I'm surprised nobody here has started a discussion about the Twins announcement that they aren't opening up the upper deck until May unless the lower deck sells out. I'm not a fan of artificially reducing supply to make Twins fans pay more for tickets in April.

Twins tickets go on sale Wednesday | kare11.com

Oh wow, had not heard this!

[sampleSizeOfOne]

On 1/1/2024 at 2:08 PM, DJL44 said:

The lower bowl should be packed.

I'm surprised nobody here has started a discussion about the Twins announcement that they aren't opening up the upper deck until May unless the lower deck sells out. I'm not a fan of artificially reducing supply to make Twins fans pay more for tickets in April.

Twins tickets go on sale Wednesday | kare11.com

That is a little weird...

So that means the cheaper seats aren't available until enough people buy expensive seats?

[DJL44]

7 hours ago, sampleSizeOfOne said:

So that means the cheaper seats aren't available until enough people buy expensive seats?

Yes. The past couple years they have had deals for standing room only tickets in April to try to get people into the ballpark. I think people have been getting used to that bargain price and they want to force people to pay more if they want to attend in April.

[USAFChief]

On 1/1/2024 at 12:08 PM, DJL44 said:

The lower bowl should be packed.

I'm surprised nobody here has started a discussion about the Twins announcement that they aren't opening up the upper deck until May unless the lower deck sells out. I'm not a fan of artificially reducing supply to make Twins fans pay more for tickets in April.

Twins tickets go on sale Wednesday | kare11.com

Both left field and 3rd base line upper deck are still open.

 

[DJL44]

13 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Both left field and 3rd base line upper deck are still open.

 

I checked the noon Dodger game and it looks like the upper deck OF is open but nothing 301-327 or 201-227. Cheapest tickets for that Dodgers game in April are $22 but if you wait until the Tigers series you can get in for $14.

You will need to wait until May to sit behind the plate in section 215 or 315. It will look less empty on television for the April games but thousands of seats will be unavailable.