It is Sunday morning, and after a 70-degree day yesterday, today we are looking at highs in the high 30s. It is spring in the North Country.

Spring, of course, means baseball. On Thursday, my local nine, the Minnesota Twins, will be opening the 2026 season at Camden Yards when they play the Baltimore Orioles. In 2014, my brother Jon and I were at the Home Opener in Baltimore when the Orioles played the Red Sox. It is a wonderful ballpark and a wonderful city.

I have attended Home Openers at:

• Wrigley Field (Cubs)
• Old Comiskey Park (White Sox)
• Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (Twins)
• Target Field (Twins)
• Camden Yards (Orioles)
• The Oakland Coliseum (A’s)

Even though the weather is often quite cool in outdoor stadiums, it has always been a memorable and special occasion. Given unlimited wealth and time, I could see making it a goal to attend Home Openers for every team. Maybe next year, I will try to make another one happen somewhere.

The Twins’ Home Opener this year is April 3, Good Friday. For a team that traded away almost half its roster last season, opening on Good Friday seems somehow appropriate.

The long, dark winter is almost done. Red-winged blackbirds are back again. And it is time for baseball.