Minnesota Olympians and Paralympians will throw out the first pitch, while cast members of the Children’s Theater’s Wizard of Oz will sing the national anthem.
MINNEAPOLIS — We’re just a week away from the return of Major League Baseball to downtown Minneapolis, as the Minnesota Twins get ready to celebrate all day long.
The Twins have revealed plans for the team’s home opener on Friday, April 3, when they’ll host the Tampa Bay Rays at Target Field at 3:10 p.m.
Opening Day events start with the traditional Breakfast on the Plaza, where fans are invited to drive, bike, or walk by Target Field on 7th Street, next to the Twins New Era Team Store, to pick up a complimentary ballpark-style breakfast, enjoy live music and enter giveaways for Opening Weekend tickets. Complimentary food includes breakfast sandwiches offered via drive-thru service, along with hot dogs, brats, chips, snacks, coffee and pop. A special ice cream treat will also be available for dogs. Breakfast on the Plaza runs from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Also, before the game, the Twins will host a new pregame Happy Hour with $2 beers, hot dogs and snacks; and pregame ceremonies will honor 2026 Minnesota-connected Olympians and Paralympians. DJ Angel will perform live on Target Plaza during the morning event. Multiple local buildings, including Target Plaza South, the IDS Building, the Lowry Avenue Bridge, the I-35W Bridge, U.S. Bank Stadium and Allianz Field, will be lit in Twins colors to mark the occasion.
Target Field gates open at 1 p.m., when several current and former Twins, along with community leaders, will welcome fans back for the new season. Club legends Rod Carew, Tony Oliva and Kent Hrbek will open their namesake gates, joined by pitcher Pablo López, franchise icons Dan Gladden, Kirby Puckett Jr. and Catherine Puckett, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.
The first 10,000 fans through the gates will receive a Twins beanie, courtesy of U.S. Bank.
From the time gates open through the scheduled 3:10 p.m. first pitch, the Twins will debut a pregame happy hour featuring food and beverage specials and live music. Fans with valid identification who are 21 and older can purchase $2 beers, including 12-ounce cans of Bud, Bud Light and Summit Twins Pils. All fans can take advantage of $2 hot dogs and $2 ballpark snacks at select concession stands. Live music during the happy hour will be provided by the Fabulous Armadillos, performing from a stage inside Gate 34 beginning at 1 p.m.
Pregame ceremonies will highlight Minnesota-connected athletes who competed in the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, with additional recognitions planned later in the season. Among the day’s featured moments are ceremonial first pitches thrown by Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin, the silver medal-winning U.S. mixed doubles curling team. Thiesse became the first American woman to win an Olympic curling medal. Joining them will be Mike Schultz, a three-time Paralympian snowboarder and four-time Paralympic medalist who is retiring from competition to continue work at the prosthetic manufacturer he founded, BioDapt.
Thiesse, Dropkin, and Schultz will receive their ceremonial baseballs from three Minnesota athletes heading to the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games, scheduled for June 20 to 26 in the Twin Cities. The Twins will also recognize the gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic Women’s Ice Hockey Team and the U.S. Paralympic Sled Hockey Team. Minnesota Frost players Kendall Coyne Schofield, Britta Curl‑Salemme, Taylor Heise, Kelly Pannek, Lee Stecklein and Grace Zumwinkle are set to represent the women’s team, while Liam Cunningham and Landon Uthke will represent the sled hockey team.
National anthem duties will be shared by Aniya Bostick and Harriet Spencer, who alternate as Dorothy in the Children’s Theatre Company production of “The Wizard of Oz,” running April 21 through June 14. The American flag will be raised by retired Army Col. Eduardo Suarez, an alternate on the U.S. Olympic Shooting Team at the 1988 Seoul Games who served 37 years in the Army and Minnesota National Guard, including deployments to the Balkans, Iraq and Kuwait. The Twins Territory flag will be raised by Adam Hjerpe and his son, Steven, a Special Olympics athlete, highlighting their connection to the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games.
Additional pregame elements include team introductions along the foul lines with red-and-blue on-field pyrotechnics, an in memoriam video and moment of silence honoring members of the Twins family and servicemembers lost during the offseason, and a giant American flag unfurled in the outfield by MyTwins Members and retired Master Sgt. Richard Krivanek of the Minnesota National Guard’s 133rd Airlift Wing.
During the seventh-inning stretch, Staff Sgt. Matthew Stubstad of the Minnesota National Guard will perform “God Bless America,” followed by “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” led by Minnesota-connected Olympians and Paralympians.
Throughout the game, fans can enjoy a range of new and returning food and beverage offerings, including the Twins Value Menu with all items priced under $6.