St. Paul Saints cancel Friday's game due to snow, reschedule home opener to Saturday
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The St. Paul Saints are postponing their home opener game to this weekend after a snowstorm dumped nearly a foot of snow across the metro earlier this week.
The St. Paul Saints announced Thursday that the team would not play the home opener scheduled for Friday despite days of work to remove the snow from CHS Field.
Crews will continue to work on clearing the field for the new home opener scheduled for 2:07 p.m. on Saturday against the Columbus Clippers.
This is the second year in a row the Saints were unable to play their home opener as originally planned due to weather. Last year, the team had to postpone the home opener twice over wintry weather.
"It's already a grind to get ready for Opening Day without weather," Marcus Campbell, the director of field operations for the Saints, told WCCO. "We're slowly adapting. It would be nice if we wouldn't have to play at home right away but the schedule is the schedule. And without field heat here like Target Field has, it definitely makes things challenging for us."
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The team says Friday's game will not be made up.
Saints players prepare for season
The players are taking the cancellation in stride.
"I'm not sure what's going on here in Minnesota," said pitcher Randy Dobnak. "But I heard it was nice all winter until like a month ago."
"Excited," said first/third baseman Jose Miranda. "You're always excited when the season's about to start."
Miranda is an interesting case for the Twins AAA affiliate. He made noise two years ago in the Majors. Then a shoulder problem and hitting struggles equaled a bad 2023, spent mostly in St. Paul.
"It was kind of a lost year for him," said Saints manager Toby Gardenhire. "This year, we're hoping to get back to what he was doing before."
"For me, last year is gone already," said Miranda. "There's nothing I can do about that year. It's already in the past. Just focus on this year and take it day by day."
This year's Saints roster is younger than a season ago. The most intriguing player Twins and Saints fans will be tracking in Lowertown is Brooks Lee. Lee is injured currently, but projects to make his MLB debut in 2024.
"If he can keep on the path that he's on right now, he should be able get up there and help the big league team at some point this season," said Gardenhire.
