Steven Trefz

The 14th and Final road trip of the 2023 Twins season leads the team to the mountains of Denver. It’s time to finish this season on a Mile High note against the Rockies! Coors Field. Let’s begin… Image courtesy of Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports Sept 29-Oct. 1 @ Colorado Rockies (3 games) Coors Field - 2022 attendance was 2,597,428 (ranked 6th out of 15 NL teams, 9th overall MLB) Say what you will about Rockies baseball, but the fans continue to know how to pack a stadium. It seems like just yesterday, but Coors Field has been fueling baseball physics controversy since 1995. After two seasons at the now-imploded Mile High Stadium, the Rockies moved into their “new” home at over 5,000 feet above sea level. Coors Field led the league again in “runs park factor,” and it wasn’t even close (coincidentally the second and third teams on the list for 2022 make up the 13th Road Trip of the season!). Baseballs fly here, humidor, and big dimensions be darned. Quirks of the stadium include seats in center field called the “Rockpile,” an in-park brewery, a purple row of seats in the 300 level which marks the Mile-High point, and a mixed-use development district around the ballpark. The National Ballpark Museum is across the street, and exists as a “must-stop” for anyone on a baseball tour de force. The Denver Art Museum, Rocky Mountain parks and trails, and the Denver Zoo all can provide some entertainment in between games. Colorado isn’t expected to be a nuisance to many this season, but they have shown consistent resilience at home. This last series of the 2023 season won’t be easy, as a weary Twins squad comes into one of the hardest ballparks to earn a ‘W’ in all of baseball. Odds are that the Twins will need the victories here, so here’s to hoping our bats are lively and our pitchers don’t read statistical reports about Coors Field. It’s 569 miles from my front door to Coors Field, an almost nine hour journey across the great prairie of Nebraska or South Dakota/Wyoming. Friends and family aplenty are looking forward to using this trip as an excuse to finally get to a game in Denver, like they’ve been planning to for almost 30 years now! I have a dream of finding a way to get a suite for the final game of the season. I also hope to keep paying my mortgage. To be continued… Now it's your turn to plan! If you have been to Coors Field, please post your list of "best seats" and "must sees." Anyone else planning on going to this final series of the 2023 regular season? Grace and peace Twins Territory! Let's play ball! PREVIOUS 2023 TWINS' ROAD TRIP GUIDES Trip #1 Kansas City & Miami (3/30-4/5) Trip #2 New York & Boston (4/13-4/20) Trip #3 Chicago & Cleveland (5/2-5/7) Trip #4 I love LA!? (5/15-5/21) Trip #5 Houston, We have a Correa! (May 29-31) Trip #6 Tampa to Toronto (6/6-6/11) Trip #7 Detroit to Atlanta to Baltimore (6/23-7/2) Trip #8 West Coast Bound Again! Oakland/Seattle (7/14-7/20) Trip #9 Kansas City & St. Louis (7/28-8/3 Trip #10 Detroit & Philadelphia (8/7-8/13) Trip #11 Milwaukee (8/22-8/23) Trip #12 Texas & Cleveland (9/1-9/6) View full article

The 13th road trip of the 2023 Twins season takes us through Chicago and Cincinnati. It’s time to take charge of the stretch run against the White Sox and Reds! Guaranteed Rate Field. Great American Ball Park. Let’s begin… Image courtesy of Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK Sept. 14-17 @ Chicago White Sox (4 games) Guaranteed Rate Field - capacity 40,615 - 2022 attendance was 1,976,344 (ranked 8th out of 15 AL teams, 19th overall MLB) The Twins’ second trip of the season to Chicago leads them into their final regular season series against an AL Central opponent. The last time they were here was in May, and the weather will probably be quite similar. Will the division crown be impacted by this long series? Or will this be a race to the middle for two teams long since lapped by the Guardians? Time will tell, but needless to say if the Twins plan on heading to the playoffs, mid-September in Chicago needs to be victorious. For a more detailed description of the ballpark, check out the summary of Road Trip #3 (linked below). It’s a weekend series, so will there be a Bears game in town? Fall brings potential college football road tripping as well, so keep your eyes on the schedules as they get released. Mitchell, SD, to Guaranteed Rate Field gates is 645 miles. Chicago to Cincinnati is only 292 miles, so this is a possible driving trip. Odds are I’m going to skip Chicago, however, and fly straight to the last three games of this road trip. Sept. 18-20 @ Cincinnati Reds (3 games) Great American Ball Park - 2022 attendance was 1,395,770 (ranked 13th out of 15 NL teams, 24th overall MLB) Home to baseball’s oldest franchise (going strong since 1882!), Great American Ball Park celebrates its 20th year of hosting the Reds in 2023. With a list of legendary players behind it, the team boasts a history of success, and has a Hall of Fame of its own to prove it. Like many teams, however, that history seems to stop in the 90’s. Built on the shores of the Ohio River, Great American Ball Park offers contemporary fans a baseball specific venue with waterfront views and quirky vibes. The higher up you sit, the better the view of both game and area. With wide concourses, and five levels of seating, finding a place to enjoy the game shouldn’t be an issue. When in town, cultural highlights include the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and the Cincinnati Art Museum. Findlay Market’s beer gardens open on gameday, and riverboat cruises offer a unique way to spend the time between games. Some of the most recent Twins vs. Reds moments involve the past few years of trades. Who is getting the better end of these deals, as the Twins continue to flip prospects for starting pitching? Hopefully this series provides ample opportunity to see how Sonny Gray and Tyler Mahle are prepping for the playoffs, as opposed to watching Spencer Steer crank baseballs into the Ohio River. Increased interleague play over the next several seasons will give Twins fans a chance to evaluate these deals in tangible games, which raises interesting questions to the future of trades in MLB. Hiding players in the other league no longer applies. Home again, home again is 919 miles. As stated earlier, plane is the name of the game for this mid-week series. Almost done… one more to go! Now it's your turn to plan! If you have been to Guaranteed Rate Field or Great American Ball Park, please post your list of "best seats" and "must sees." Anyone else planning on going to these series? Grace and peace Twins Territory! Thanks for the help! PREVIOUS 2023 TWINS' ROAD TRIP GUIDES Trip #1 Kansas City & Miami (3/30-4/5) Trip #2 New York & Boston (4/13-4/20) Trip #3 Chicago & Cleveland (5/2-5/7) Trip #4 I love LA!? Dodgers & Angels (5/15-5/21) Trip #5 Houston, We have a Correa! (May 29-31) Trip #6 Tampa to Toronto (6/6-6/11) Trip #7 Detroit to Atlanta to Baltimore (6/23-7/2) Trip #8 West Coast Bound Again! Oakland/Seattle (7/14-7/20) Trip #9 Kansas City & St. Louis (7/28-8/3 Trip #10 Detroit & Philadelphia (8/7-8/13) Trip #11 Milwaukee (8/22-8/23) Trip #12 Texas & Cleveland (9/1-9/6) View full article

The 12th road trip of the 2023 Twins season takes a mammoth triangular trek through the middle of the county via Texas and Cleveland. Because, why not try to finish the season covering almost 3000 miles in 6 days. It’s time to start the playoff push against the Rangers and Guardians! Globe Life Field. Progressive Field. Let’s begin… Image courtesy of David Richard-USA TODAY Sports (photo of John Adams who passed away last week) Sept. 1-3 @ Texas Rangers (3 games) Globe Life Field - 2022 attendance was 2,011,381 (ranked 7th out of 15 AL teams, 18th in all MLB) Texas exists as an outlier in the baseball universe. Even Moon’s Baseball Road Trips doesn’t know what to do with it. A trip to a Rangers game gets lumped in with a “heartland” road trip which starts at Target Field of all places. This trip follows an off-day, so no such luck for me. Globe Life Field opened to empty seats in 2020 thanks to the Covid pandemic. The seats didn’t necessarily fill up for mediocre baseball in 2022 either. Continued aggressive spending and a state-of-the-art stadium hope to propel the Rangers to better days ahead in 2023. The retractable roof at the new ballpark offers 71-degree days when the world outside is boiling in Arlington. The trend towards “entertainment district” stadium usage continues here, as teams seek to maximize fan spending for blocks in all directions. While in the entertainment district you can go to Six Flags, a waterpark, AT&T Stadium, and a mall. What you can’t find is a downtown vibe (this may be a positive to some fans) or easy public transit. The Rangers are recent entries into the MLB history books, but they have a unique tie to the Twins. In 1972, the Washington Senators found a new home (sound familiar?) in Arlington, Texas. Until then, the Dallas-Fort Worth area only hosted minor-league experiences. Some have argued that they’ve mostly only hosted minor-league experiences since then too. Two American League pennants, Nolan Ryan and Pudge Rodriguez, Nelson Cruz’s prime, and absolutely no Twins rivalry highlights that I could think of. It will be interesting to see if the Rangers are actually playing for something by the time the Twins come to town, or if we will be seeing their Triple-A team. This is a marathon trip, but these daily sprints will matter as September gets started. 12.5 hours and 820 miles from my front door to Globe Life Field. Cleveland follows with no off-day in between. I know its difficult to line up all of the games for all of the teams, but this seems excessively trying for a team hoping to be a part of a playoff push. Earlier in the season there was a three-day solo trip to Houston; can’t they be paired together? Whining won’t get me any closer to the next series though, its time to hop a plane for Cleveland. Sept. 4-6 @ Cleveland Guardians (3 games) Progressive Field – 35,401 - 2022 attendance was 1,295,869 (ranked 12th out of 15 AL parks, 25th overall MLB) Check out road trip #3 for a more extensive review of Progressive Field. For now, let’s just name the fact that the Central Division title most likely will come down to the Twins work against the Guardians. The Twins only have two series against the central in the last four weeks of the season, and both are on the road. Whether or not this unique scheduling quirk benefits the team remains to be seen, but coming off of last season’s final trip to Cleveland, we can’t have a repeat of that collapse at Progressive. 1,200 miles from Arlington to Cleveland, and less than 24 hours to get there. Again, the Twins were given no favors to set them up for this crucial divisional series. If the Twins can take four out of six, the remaining 980 miles home won’t seem so far. Go 1-5, and September could be setting up for yet another late-season disappointment. Now it's your turn to plan! If you have been to Globe Life Field or Progressive Field, please post your list of "best seats" and "must sees." Anyone else planning on going to these series? Grace and peace Twins Territory! Thanks for the help! View full article

Truth. I find myself making flight plans for getaway days, and thinking...what if there is a rain delay? The team can change their charter flight time...I don't think my airlines care :) But I also am a show up 90 minutes early guy...so we shall see how that works in reality.

That's what I was starting to wonder, if we can't just use my blog throughout the season to be an unofficial fan caravan site. We generally stick out in a road stadium anyway, but I think it would be a great way to build some community. Keep your eyes out for info closer to the season's start!

The shortest road trip of the 2023 season is the 11th, and it takes us down the interstate to Milwaukee. It’s time to run a two-game victory lap against the Brewers in our annual rivalry series. American Family Field. Let’s begin… Image courtesy of Mike De Sisti / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via Imagn Content Services, LLC August 22-23 @ Milwaukee Brewers (2 games) American Family Field - 2022 attendance was 2,412,420 (ranked 9th out of 15 NL teams, 14th out of all MLB) Nothing says “scheduling issue” than a two-game road trip in the middle of a pennant push. The annual rivalry interleague match-up with the Brewers takes less than 24 hours, and hopefully doesn’t kill the momentum of a lengthy home stretch. American Family Field began as Miller Park in 2001. 2020 brought new cash inflow and a new name. This retractable-roof complex looks like a combination of an airplane hangar, a Metrodome, and an advertisement convention. And yet, when the Brewers got it going on, the place also brings out an energy that can deliver electric baseball. The Twins and Brewers have been rivals since Milwaukee dwelled in the American League. At the start of interleague play, MLB designated certain pairs of teams to play annually. As they say, familiarity breeds contempt. The local fanbases have learned to love the home and away series every season, and they have learned to hate each other. Word on the street is that American Family Field is one of the least friendly places to wear a Twins jersey, or the best, depending on where your ticket seats you. The Brewers isn’t just a fun name, it’s a destination reality. Local and global-level breweries make this city a beer connoisseur's playground. The Harley-Davidson Museum, Milwaukee Art Museum, and Lake Michigan coastline provide alternative travel stops for a variety of tastes. Once inside the ballpark, the immortal “sausage race” has gone digital, but the spirit remains. Bud Selig and Bob Uecker have statues and museums, which I guess is fine. There is a giant slide for the mascot in left field, which I would be curious to see T.C. Bear try to attempt. Not curious enough to drive to Milwaukee. This is an obvious up-and-back driving trip. Leave Tuesday morning, drive eight hours, catch two games, drive home Wednesday night. I wish they could have tied in one of the Chicago series here since they are only an hour apart, but no one asked for my help in making the schedule. They better next year. Now it's your turn to plan! If you have been to American Family Park (formerly Miller park), please post your list of "best seats" and "must sees." Anyone else planning on going to this series? Grace and peace Twins Territory! Thanks for the help! View full article

I'm always curious who downloads my attached schedule ideas...and what nefarious plans they are calculating with them... Thanks for the excitement and welcome Nicole! In the process of adding a bro trip to Universal Studios between the Dodgers/Angels series. Super Mario World anyone???

In late December, as the cold wind howled and the Twins 2023 schedule seemed like a breath of warm air, hope sprung eternal. I made an excel spreadsheet, calculated mileage, ordered books written by crazy people who had attended all 162 games of a season, or visited all 30 stadiums in a year, and I began to count the costs of a dream trip to be in person for all 81 Twins road games in 2023. February now is upon us, and most of reality has entered the picture again. The airline situation has become unreliable and expensive. My mini-van is making new noises that have already proven to be expensive. Once in a lifetime family events have started to enter the summer calendar. And yet, the MLB schedule is relentless. There is no breathing room. Connecting flight gets canceled? You miss the game. Important family event emerges for a weekend in May? You miss the game. Changes at work? How did you plan on paying for those trips? Better miss the game. New opportunity for your work emerge that requires some in-person presence in a non-MLB town? You miss the game. Most humans saw this coming in December already, but were kindly waiting for me to realize it on my own. The only humans that can actually make every Twins game in a season, let alone every road game, are those who are employed specifically for that purpose. Another option is being independently wealthy with no desire to maintain a family life past May. So what is a man with a dream gonna do? Writing the weekly TwinsDaily entries about the 2023 road trips has been a gift. I've been able to methodically and strategically investigate the dream that I was given. I've learned things about the stadiums and communities that both invigorates my journey, and makes me not want to waste my time and money! The books that I've read seem to all point to the fact that being present for the daily grind of an MLB season often leaves you with nothing to write about besides "I took a nap here" and "I avoided a car crash there." Home life was happening for all of the individuals, and yet they couldn't really be present to experience it, because they were in Seattle, or Baltimore, or some campground in the middle of the Midwest because they ran out of cash and read Google Maps wrong. Now that the veil has been lifted, I've begun to envision a compromise. A recalibration if you will. What if a Twins fan from South Dakota tried to go to a Twins road series in every MLB ballpark over a three-year stretch? This combines the "every ballpark" bucket list dream with the "I feel called to experience what my team experiences" dream. It also allows me to not go to Cleveland four times in two years. Once will do just fine. It allows me to say to the MLB scheduling crew, "Texas to Cleveland in September with no off days at the start of my son's first year of high school and marching band competitions just isn't cool." It allows my family to take an extra five days to explore the West Coast before, during, and after the Oakland/Seattle trip. It allows me to tell the White Sox that I won't be there in person to see them lose that series, because I'm going to be doing something amazing with my work someplace else. Before I make this switch, I really need to figure out why I'm doing this trip at all. The Twins don't care. My presence will not impact our bullpen's ability to throw competitive pitches in the 7th and 8th innings. My plane ticket purchases aren't going to help at the trade deadline. The players will enjoy having more fans supporting them in the road ballparks, but they are going to do their best regardless. At least they better... My family cares way more. They care about where I am and why. Trips to Twins games and new places with them definitely has emerged as the reason to do this at all. In order for that to be the main point of this epic adventure, it can't take place all at once. It needs to be savored and treasured, not rushed. I do think that other Twins fans in this frozen hemisphere are interested. It's novel, and something that would be epic. I want to share this story with them...with you. Will it still be a story worth sharing if it requires us to walk together for a little bit longer, over a few more twists and turns? Or is the urgency and impossibility of the travel what is worth sharing? Epic-ness is still involved. I can't miss a National League Park next year if the three-year plan is going to work, and missing one this year would be a major risk. Usefulness is still involved. I can still provide the fans with a deeper look into the ballparks of MLB, while paying particular attention to how Twins Territory is being represented live and in person at the enemy stadiums. As I began to write about the return trips to Central Division ballparks for 2023, I realized that going back to places within the division didn't scream excitement like the first trips to a place. The playoff push in September might alter that scenario, but for now, I'm not losing sleep about only going to Comerica Park once in two years. And I sure as heck am hoping that MLB sees the error of their ways and links that trip next year to the Toronto series, you know, since they are only a ferry ride apart! I'm also am starting to hope again about the Twins' chances. That, in and of itself, changes things about the "why" behind the trip. When I started my planning, we were deep into a winter of not getting the players we needed. Now, we are mostly through a winter of wondering how we pulled that off! Why would I not want to join in on a longer window for success? Two chances for the Twins to see the stars align. Putting all of my eggs in the 2023 basket, at the current price of eggs, doesn't seem very wise. Why not leave open the opportunity for back-to-back World Series campaigns? I want to share a thank you to all of my family and friends who have already committed to 2023 adventures with me. At the very least I'll still be catching 16 road trips, and approximately 48 games of Twins baseball in places that I've never been, often with friends and family that I haven't been able to be in person with for years. If I would have proposed 48 games a year on the road for two years back in December, the same questions of sanity would have arisen. I'm curious what you think TwinsDaily friends? What types of things are you looking forward to the most about my road trips? What makes for the most interesting stories? Is it the travel? The stadiums? The food & drink? The in person account of how clutch hitting in July in Oakland will determine the fate of our next two months of success? I'm seeking wise counsel, from my favorite community. I've attached a New Revised Standard Version of the "All 81 Adventure." Technically its more of a "Great Outdoors 96er." (If you don't get that movie reference, please take the next 90 minutes to redeem that life fault) How does it look to you? Thanks again for helping me plan this epic voyage, for as long and as often as I'm able to take it. Revised 2023-24 Twins Away Game Trips.docx

I have been wondering as I’m making these articles: do players ever look forward to or get bummed about certain trips? One persons old school and home is another’s “place where an ex lives.” It will be interesting to see if any of this perspective emerges from the road. Trying to utilize the trip over the next two years for college site searching for my kid will be another layer to this. thanks for checking in!

The tenth road trip of the 2023 Twins season, and the first road trip after the trade deadline heads East through Detroit and Philadelphia. It’s time to sweat and compete against the divisional foe Tigers and the World Series primed Phillies! Comerica Park. Citizens Bank Park. Let’s begin… Image courtesy of Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports August 7-10 @ Detroit Tigers (4 games) Comerica Park - 2022 attendance was 1,551,149 (ranked 10th out of 15 AL teams, 22nd overall MLB) The Twins make their return trip to Detroit during the heat of August’s pennant push. This four-game series should be ripe for the picking by this point in the season. Of course, unless June’s trip re-writes the script, the Twins haven’t been very successful in Detroit since 2020. You can read up on the Comerica Park road trip experience in Trip #7, but for now its important to remember that new members of the team acquired in trades will be making their first road trip with the Twins on this particular journey. The new dynamic gets tested right away with hot days in hostile ballparks. It's 923 miles from Mitchell, South Dakota, to Detroit. Then the team has 587 miles to go to Philadelphia. There are no off days on this seven-game trip, so the road weariness will be on full display. August 11-13 @ Philadelphia Phillies (3 games) Citizens Bank Park - 2022 attendance was 2,276,736 (ranked 10th out of 15 NL teams) I was surprised to discover that the Phillies have lost more games than any other American sports franchise. I only seem to remember the captivating squads of the 90’s, and the World Series attending teams of recent history. However, the giant former home of the Phillies, Veterans Stadium, often saw nothing but epic disappointment. At 67,000, Veterans Stadium had the capacity for greatness, and the vibe of concrete sterility. In 2004, the team began a new chapter with the more intimate and contemporary Citizens Bank Park. The seating at Citizens Bank is described as “sitting over the field,” and the unique wind tunnel alleyways and small left- and right-field corners set the stage for homeruns and excitement. Twins fans can get up close and personal with the visitor’s bullpen in left-center field, or just hang out and listen to the Phillies fans give them grief. Of all of the stadiums that I researched, this one seems to be the least hospitable to away team jerseys and presence in general. Attenders beware! The ballpark also seems to be set up for prime standing room only options, and its main food vendors exist in the open outfield concourse. There’s a kid’s wiffle-ball field in right-field, and a Wall of Fame in left. And of course, keep your head on a swivel unless you want to get accosted by the Phillie Phanatic. Philadelphia itself oozes history and tourist destinations. The start of American democracy and government, the pursuit of freedom and liberty, and the origins of the great cheesesteak all find their home here. You can pretend you are Rocky as you run the steps of the Museum of Art, or just sit there and watch other people exhaust themselves trying. The Twins don’t have much history at Citizens Bank Park. 2019 was the last series there, and playoff history is non-existent. I had a John Kruk man crush for a good decade, but even his role in Phillies lore is quite dated. This year’s team is fresh off of “what might have been” in 2022, and will hopefully have Bryce Harper back by this point in the season. If the Phillies are still rocking Jake Cave in the outfield in August, something has gone terribly wrong for them. It’s 1,400 miles back to Mitchell, South Dakota, from Philadelphia. This trip probably makes more sense via plane, but without off days the chance of missing connecting flights does exist. Hopefully the dog days of August bring two series wins, and smooth travels. Otherwise, this road trip could be the beginning of the end of the season for the Twins. Now it's your turn to plan! If you have been to Comerica Park or Citizens Bank Park, please post your list of "best seats" and "must sees." Anyone else planning on going to these series? Grace and peace Twins Territory! Thanks for the help! View full article