{"id":713533,"date":"2026-04-18T23:30:47","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T23:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/713533\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T23:30:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T23:30:47","slug":"the-next-week-is-a-minnesota-sports-fans-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/713533\/","title":{"rendered":"The next week is a Minnesota sports fan’s dream"},"content":{"rendered":"

Minnesota sports fans tired of the late March and early April doldrums are eagerly anticipating the next seven days of jam-packed action that feature first-round playoff series in the NHL and NBA, a surprisingly good Twins team, the NFL draft, and more.<\/p>\n

The NBA and NHL postseasons are finally here. Both the Timberwolves and Wild have been on course for the playoffs for a while now. The Wolves enter in a bit of an injury-induced slump, though with a week to rest their stars, they should be up for yet another postseason showdown with the Nuggets. Meanwhile, the Wild secured the third seed in the Central Division after a 104-point season and now face the Dallas Stars (112 points) in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Games 1 and 2 for each series are on Saturday afternoon and Monday night. Below is the schedule for each series…<\/p>\n

Wolves schedule<\/p>\n

Game 1: Saturday, April 18 \u2014 2:30 p.m. at Denver (Prime Video)<\/p>\n

Game 2: Monday, April 20 \u2014 9:30 p.m. at Denver (NBC)<\/p>\n

Game 3: Thursday, April 23 \u2014 8:30 p.m. at Minnesota (Prime Video)<\/p>\n

Game 4: Saturday, April 25 \u2014 7:30 p.m. at Minnesota (ABC)<\/p>\n

\"Mar<\/p>\n

Mar 1, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) controls the ball in the second quarter against the Denver Nuggets at Ball Arena.Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Wild schedule<\/p>\n

Game 1: Saturday, April 18 \u2014 4:30 p.m. at Dallas (ESPN)<\/p>\n

Game 2: Monday, April 20 \u2014 8:30 p.m. at Dallas (ESPN)<\/p>\n

Game 3: Wednesday, April 22 \u2014 8: 30 p.m. at Minnesota (TNT)<\/p>\n

Game 4: Saturday, April 25 \u2014 4:30 p.m. at Minnesota (TBS)<\/p>\n

\"Apr<\/p>\n

Apr 9, 2026; Dallas, Texas, USA; Minnesota Wild left wing Kirill Kaprizov (97) skates against the Dallas Stars during the first period at the American Airlines Center.Jerome Miron-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Twins have been one of the biggest surprises in baseball. After an offseason with little spending, many assumed it was going to be another long season. However, new manager Derek Shelton has inspired the Twins to one of the better early records in baseball at 11-9, going 8-3 in their last 11 games.<\/p>\n

The week ahead presents a tricky schedule for the Twins. They began a three-game home series with a loss against a good Cincinnati Reds team on Friday. The Twins will have a travel day Monday as they embark on an East Coast road trip that starts with a three-game series in New York against the high-spending Mets on Tuesday, followed by a three-game series in Tampa against the Rays, who sit first in the AL East. Below is the Twins’ schedule over the next week…<\/p>\n

Twins schedule<\/p>\n

Saturday, April 18 vs. Cincinnati Reds, 1:10 p.m. \u2014 Target Field<\/p>\n

Sunday, April 19 vs. Cincinnati Reds, 1:10 p.m. \u2014 Target Field<\/p>\n

Tuesday, April 21 at New York Mets, 6:10 p.m. \u2014 Citi Field<\/p>\n

Wednesday, April 22 at New York Mets, 6:10 p.m. \u2014 Citi Field<\/p>\n

Thursday, April 23 at New York Mets, 6:10 p.m. \u2014 Citi Field<\/p>\n

Friday, April 24 at Tampa Bay Rays, 6:10 p.m. – Tropicana Field<\/p>\n

Saturday, April 25 at Tampa Bay Rays, 3:10 p.m. \u2014 Tropicana Field<\/p>\n

\"Apr<\/p>\n

Apr 14, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Twins left fielder Trevor Larnach (9), center fielder Byron Buxton (25) and right fielder Matt Wallner (38) after defeating the Boston Red Sox at Target Field.Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

In the midst of all of that on-field action, the NFL will hold one of its most popular yearly events, the NFL Draft. The Vikings have four top-100 picks to help reload after a 9-7 season. The first round takes place on Thursday evening, starting at 7 p.m. CT, and the Vikings have the No. 18 overall pick. Minnesota will have three picks on Day 2 of the draft, which starts at 6 p.m. on Friday night. They will then have five picks on Day 3, which gets underway at 11 a.m. on Saturday. Below is the schedule for the draft, as well as where to watch the event…<\/p>\n

NFL Draft<\/p>\n

Day 1: Thursday, April 23 \u2014 7p.m. (NFL Network, ABC, ESPN)
Vikings’ Day 1 picks: Round 1 (No. 18)<\/p>\n

Day 2: Friday, April 24 \u2014 6 p.m. (NFL Network, ABC, ESPN)
Vikings’ Day 2 picks: Round 2 (No. 49), Round 3 (No. 82, No. 97)<\/p>\n

Day 3: Saturday, April 25 \u2014 11 a.m. (NFL Network, ABC, ESPN)
Vikings’ Day 3 picks: Round 5 (No. 163), Round 6 (No. 196), Round 7 (No. 234, No. 235, No. 244)<\/p>\n

\"Apr<\/p>\n

Apr 24, 2025; Green Bay, WI, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes guard Donovan Jackson is selected as the No. 24 pick by the Minnesota Vikings during the NFL Draft at Lambeau Field.Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Outside of the big four teams, there is also plenty of action. Gophers gymnastics shocked everybody late Thursday when they qualified for the Final Four for the first time in program history. They will take on SEC powerhouses Florida, LSU, and Oklahoma on Saturday, starting at 3 p.m., in the Final Four.<\/p>\n

Also, the Minnesota Frost wrap up their third regular season with a trio of games. The Frost have already secured a spot in the playoffs and look all but set to enter as the No. 3 seed, behind the Montreal Victoire and Boston Fleet.<\/p>\n

Winners of three straight across all competitions, Minnesota United continues their early-season MLS schedule with a trio of games over the next week. They will return home for just the third time this season on Saturday, hosting the Portland Timbers. The Loons will then travel to Texas to take on high-scoring FC Dallas on Wednesday night before returning home to host one of the best teams in the league, LAFC, next Saturday.<\/p>\n

Below is the schedule for all three of those teams…<\/p>\n

Gophers gymnastics<\/p>\n

Final Four: Saturday, April 18 \u2014 3 p.m. (ABC)<\/p>\n

\"Apr<\/p>\n

Apr 16, 2026; Fort Worth, TX, USA; The Minnesota team celebrates during semifinals for the 2026 NCAA Women\u2019s Gymnastics National Championships at Dickies Arena.Jerome Miron-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Frost schedule<\/p>\n

Sunday, April 19 vs. Toronto Sceptres \u2014 1:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

Wednesday, April 22 at Seattle Torrent \u2014 10:00 p.m.<\/p>\n

Saturday, April 25 vs. Vancouver Goldeneyes \u2014 7:00 p.m.<\/p>\n

Loons schedule<\/p>\n

Saturday, April 18 vs. Portland Timbers \u2014 7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

Wednesday, April 22 at FC Dallas \u2014 7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

Saturday, April 25 vs. LAFC \u2014 3:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

No matter where you turn over the next week, there will be plenty of quality Minnesota sports to consume.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Bring Me The News<\/a> on Apr 18, 2026, where it first appeared in the MN Sports<\/a> section. Add Bring Me The News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Minnesota sports fans tired of the late March and early April doldrums are eagerly anticipating the next seven…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":713534,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3782],"tags":[375,7,7286,29795,20863,436,187,88943,88945,2318,307,152,11424,5497,26055,3954,6,9,33024,944,88942,308,88944,8752],"class_list":{"0":"post-713533","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-timberwolves","8":"tag-anthony-edwards","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-boston-red-sox","11":"tag-byron-buxton","12":"tag-cincinnati-reds","13":"tag-dallas-stars","14":"tag-denver-nuggets","15":"tag-kirill-kaprizov","16":"tag-matt-wallner","17":"tag-mets","18":"tag-minnesota","19":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","20":"tag-minnesota-twins","21":"tag-minnesota-vikings","22":"tag-minnesota-wild","23":"tag-minnesotatimberwolves","24":"tag-nba","25":"tag-nfl","26":"tag-portland-timbers","27":"tag-rays","28":"tag-the-twins","29":"tag-timberwolves","30":"tag-trevor-larnach","31":"tag-twins"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116428322722273147","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=713533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}