Minnesota Twins: Tough April Stretch Will Make or Break This Team

One could easily argue that the Minnesota Twins have the toughest first month schedule in all of Major League Baseball.

They open the season on the road with a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles, but as soon as that  is over they fly home to Minnesota to take on two powerhouses of the American League West.

The new look Los Angeles Angels will be in town, first, for the opening home series followed by the reigning American League Champion Texas Rangers.

Following that short home stand the Twins take to the road where they will go to New York to play the Yankees in a four-game series. After that they go to Tampa Bay to play a three-game set with the Rays before coming back home for a three-game series against the Red Sox.

To make matters worse, over those five series they will play 15 straight days. For a team that is trying to keep Joe Mauer's legs under him, Justin Morneau concussion-related symptom free and a pitching rotation that is anchored by two thirty-something year old pitchers, playing that many consecutive days to start the season could be a recipe for disaster.

If the Twins hope to have a chance to compete in the American League Central this season, it is an absolute must to make it through that stretch of games at or above .500.

By the time the Minnesota Twins will see the projected AL Central winning Detroit Tigers on May 16, the Twins will have only played five divisional games.  Three of those are against the Royals and two against the Cleveland Indians.

On the other side of that, the Tigers will have played 14 divisional games, six against the Royals and eight against the Chicago White Sox.

The month of April is going to show Twins' fans whether this team can compete against the best in the American League, and by the end of May they will know if there is any hope of toppling the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central.