That's The Ticket: Dodging Storms

The Dodgers have been to Target Field before; just three years ago the Twins (despite a dismal year) took two of three, serving as dismal hosts. With Minnesota in the middle of a week-long rainstorm, the Dodgers might be back quite a bit sooner. There is no point in avoiding it: the story for this series is the weather, so let’s break it down….

The Possible Makeup Dates

There are three dates this year that the Dodgers and Twins both have open and they’re all on Mondays:

May 19 – The Twins will be wrapping up a homestand against Boston and Seattle and the Dodgers will be leaving Arizona and be on their way to New York City to play the Mets on the 20^th. Also, both teams (at least right now) have an off day earlier that week, so it wouldn’t be such a hardship. This date seems like it would work best.

July 28 – The Twins will be concluding a nine-game homestand and the Dodger will be finishing a nine-game road trip. This one doesn’t work out quite as well because the Dodgers would need to fly from San Francisco on Sunday and back home on Tuesday, but it’ll work.

August 25 – The Twins will be ending a 10-game homestand against AL Central teams and the Dodgers be wrapping up their own homestand too. Again – this game isn’t exactly on the Dodgers flight path. They would leave LA, fly to Minneapolis, play a game and then go back to Phoenix to face the Diamondbacks.

Actually, “a game” might be optimistic. If two games are cancelled, I suppose one of these days could host a doubleheader.

I also suppose this presents a unique opportunity for those people who are buying Twins tickets on the open market (such as at TicketKingOnline.com). All of these dates generally have a lot nicer weather then you’ll see right now. Why not buy some seats super cheap and wait to see which game you get?

I can think of three significant risks to that plan:

1) The game might be played as scheduled in really miserable conditions.

2) The game might be part of a doubleheader on Thursday, when there is a slightly lesser chance of rain.

3) The rescheduled game could be on a Monday afternoon, which could be good or bad depending on your work schedule.

An Unbelievable Story

Oh yeah, you might want to know a thing or two about the Dodgers.

First: Yasiel Puig. Puig’s stats this year aren’t quite as gaudy as last year, when he was called up as a 22-year-old, hit .319 with 19 home runs and 11 stolen bases, finished second in Rookie of the Year voting, garnered votes for the National League MVP and led the Dodgers from last to first in the NL West over the last 100+ games of the season. His was easily the most exciting story in baseball last year.

And yet his story may have already been topped. Recently, the story of his escape from Cuba was detailed in Los Angeles Magazine by Jesse Katz. A quick summary: drug lords, Cuban informants, double-crossing HVAC contractors, threats with machetes, lawsuits, chicken blood and a dead boat captain. I dare you not to click the link.

Anyway, you’ll find him in right field, so you might want to shoot for something in Section 103, where I see $15 tickets. (Which is coincidentally in Target Field’s craft beer corner. Just saying.) No matter how his story ends, it might be able to tell your grandkids someday that “you saw him when….”

Pitching Matchups

Your guess is as good as mine as to how the pitching matchups will look if there’s another rainout. Kyle Gibson is up next and will likely get a chance to bounce back after his first rough outing and after having a couple of extra days of rest. Mike Pelfrey should pitch the second game, but if either of those first two games are cancelled, might the Twins just stick with Ricky Nolasco on Thursday and skip one of Pelfrey’s starts?

The Dodgers rotation is bringing some star power, as they are wont to do. They’ll start with Zach Greinke, who is 0-3 with a 5.63 ERA lifetime in Target Field. Then comes Dan Haren, who is sporting a 3-0 record and a 2.03 ERA so far. If they get all three games in we’ll see Josh Beckett, who has recovered from a thumb injury and has a 2.45 ERA in four starts.

Obviously, this is a chance for some bargains, especially considering the drawing power of the Dodgers. There are $4 tickets for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. If you’re a Dodgers fan, the seats around their dugout are a little more scarce, but I see a pair right next to the dugout for each game for $55-$62. That becomes an even better deal if you use the promo code DAILYDOUBLE, which will get you 10% off and supports Twins Daily. Whatever your needs, your local ticket supplier, Ticket King, can help.