The Twins resume play after the All-Star break on Friday at Target Field, and the chances are good that the weather will be prime for baseball: sunny, mild and reasonably storm-free.
If so, it will continue a trend of better-than-imagined weather in Minneapolis since the return of outdoor baseball 2 1/2 years ago. How good? For that, former Star Tribune colleague Joel Rippel has answers. He helped compile copious rainout data and shared with us the results. Here are some of the highlights:
• The Twins have had five games rained out at Target Field out of 204 games -- meaning only 2.4 percent of home games have been rained out.
• By comparison, in 21 seasons at Metropolitan Stadium, the Twins had 86 games (including two doubleheaders) rained out -- 5.1 percent of the 1,674 home games the Twins played at the Met.
• The Twins have an active streak of 32 consecutive games without a rainout, and two of their five longest streaks of consecutive games without a rainout -- not counting the Metrodome years, of course -- have come entirely at Target Field. Those stretches: 73 games from May 8, 2010, to April 21, 2011, and 66 games from June 15, 2011, to April 27, 2012.
• The Twins haven't had more than three rainouts in any season since moving to Target Field (though 2012 is obviously still in progress). At the Met, the Twins had only seven seasons with three or fewer rainouts -- including the strike-shortened 1981 season, the only year the Twins had zero rainouts while playing home games outdoors.
• It's probably no surprise, but April is the month in which the Twins have had the most rainouts. Here are the monthly rainout totals in outdoor Minnesota games: April (26), May (22), June (11), July (6), August (7), September (14). The Twins had no games rained out from July through the end of the season in either 2010 or 2011.
• It could be better. The Los Angeles Dodgers have played 1,012 consecutive home games without being rained out, going all the way back to the 2000 season.
MICHAEL RAND
resize text 
Newspaper Subscriptions
eEdition
RSS
Newsletters