FOX Sports North will televise 58 of 60 games during the Minnesota Twins’ shortened season, which begins this Friday, July 24, when they open at the Chicago White Sox.
Coverage of the season opener will begin at 6 p.m. with a one-hour pregame show, with the first pitch scheduled for just after 7 p.m. The home opener will be Tuesday, July 28, when the Twins take on the St. Louis Cardinals at Target Field.
But the very first game announcer Dick Bremer and the broadcast crew will televise is happening Wednesday, as the Twins and Cubs play an exhibition game at Wrigley Field. Coverage for that begins at 6 p.m.
The only two games FSN won’t televise are the July 30 game against Cleveland, which will be on FOX, and the Sept. 12 game against Cleveland, which will also be a national broadcast on FOX.
Originally, before the season was shortened, FSN was going to have Justin Morneau do 57 games of color commentary, followed by Bert Blyleven doing 30 games, Roy Smalley 26, Jack Morris 23, LaTroy Hawkins 17 and Jim Kaat 10.
Now, the analysts have been trimmed to Morneau, Blyleven, Smalley and Morris, with an FSN spokesperson telling Bring Me The News that Morneau will handle 40% of the games, followed by Blyleven doing 25%. The remaining 35% will go to Smalley and Morris.
That equates to about 24 games for Morneau, 15 for Blyleven and 21 for Smalley and Morris, though exact numbers and assignments haven’t been established.
The spokesperson said FSN is “looking for ways to allow Jim Kaat to contribute to our game broadcasts remotely.” Hawkins may be featured in select programming, though he’s now a member of the 2020 coaching staff.
The broadcast crew will be announcing road games from Target Field because of COVID-19, so it’ll have a different feel this summer.
Marney Gellner, Audra Martin and Annie Sabo will be reporters during the home games, and they’ll be doing interviews via Zoom conferences. Anthony LaPanta and Sabo, along with Tim Laudner and Glen Perkins], will provide coverage from the studio during home games at pre/postgame coverage at the ballpark during away games.
