Minnesota Twins Home Opener, Full Baseball Season Saved

Find a heavy sweatshirt and a wool cap because baseball will be played at Target Field on Thursday, April 7, 2022. Don't forget to have your ice scraper in the car for afterward, just in case. Major League Baseball (MLB) owners and players came to an agreement Thursday, March 10 to end the 99-day lockout and get in a full 162-game season. Watch the Twins website for official dates and times of games.

On Wednesday, March 9 MLB Commission Robert Manfred announced the cancelation of two additional series of regular-season games. That would have eliminated the April 7 Home Opener for Minnesota. A week earlier MLB announced that the first two series of the season would be canceled, which were both road series for the Twins. Thursday's announcement indicates those games will somehow be made up.

A posting on the Minnesota Twins website cautions that both sides must still vote the tentative agreement into place. "The CBA must still be ratified by both sides before it becomes official. Once that happens, Spring Training camps are expected to open on Sunday, bringing the three-month lockout to a close."

Writer Mark Feinsand further states, "The new five-year CBA is expected to include increased minimum salaries, a new pre-arbitration bonus pool to reward the top young players in the game, a raise in competitive balance tax thresholds, the introduction of a universal designated hitter, the widest-ranging Draft lottery in pro sports, a system to prevent alleged service-time manipulation, limits on the number of times a player can be optioned in a season and a 12-team postseason."

The Star Tribune reports, "The union's executive board approved the agreement in a 26-12 vote, pending ratification by all players, a person familiar with the balloting said."

Teams could assemble by this weekend to begin spring training.