Major League Baseball released its 2020 schedule on Tuesday, and it raised eyebrows.
The Twins will not begin the season at home. They aren't going to New York, or Cleveland, or Detroit for their opener either.
They are opening the season with a four-game series in Oakland, then they will head to Seattle for three games.
At least through the first week of the season, the Twins won't be in a park where there could be a fashion show of snowmobile suits in the stands. It could rain in Oakland, but the average high temperature for late March is 62 degrees. Seattle's T-Mobile Park has a retractable roof, and the average high is 57 that time of year.
"Yes, the Twins requested opening in a warmer weather location," Twins President Dave St. Peter said. "Playing the season's first [seven] games on the West Coast provides an opportunity to ensure weather isn't a factor. That's helpful for our team and especially our pitchers. In addition, it helps us spread out our three West Coast trips in 2020."
The Twins might not have been the only team requesting early weather relief.
"We took weather into consideration and incorporated various factors into the 2020 schedule for the first two series of the year," said Michael Teevan, MLB vice president of communication. "Those factors included emphasizing many Western Division teams and clubs with a retractable roof being at home. We also scheduled many divisional games early in part because those are the easiest to make up later in the season, given the frequency that those teams meet throughout the season."
It's always going to be a challenge for teams to avoid wintry weather during the early weeks of the season. And notice that the opener is scheduled for March 26, as the league ensures that the season ends before the Nov. 3 presidential elections. The early start will put most teams in danger of rough early weather as winter slowly crawls into spring.