Every Twins game to be televised

The Minnesota Twins open the 2013 season Monday at Target Field against the American League champion Detroit Tigers.

Bring your parkas. The temperature, it is said, will be in the 30s, coupled with some strong winds. So don your gloves, long underwear and a stocking cap.

Better yet, if you don't go, the game will be on TV. The opener will be among the 150 games to be televised on Fox Sports North.

The other 12 games will air on the Major League Baseball (eight games) and Fox (four), which means every Twins game this year will be on TV.

This is the 25th anniversary of the partnership between the Twins and the regional sports network.

Dick Bremer will be back doing play-by-play and will be joined by primary analyst Bert Blyleven.

Pre- and post-game shows will be hosted by Anthony LaPanta, Tom Hanneman, Kevin Gorg, Marney Gellner and new contributor Jamie Hirsch. You will also see former players Ron Coomer, Roy Smalley, Tim Laudner and ex-manager Tom Kelly on the telecasts.

The first non-FSN game is April 20, at 2 p.m. against the White Sox in Chicago on Fox and April 23 at noon against Florida on the MLB Network.

• The Twins have moved their radio rights to FM with Twin Cities-based KTWN-FM (96.3) as the new flagship station.

The move ends a six-year run on KSTP-AM 1500 for the Twins. The AM station will continue to air some complementary Twins programming, including manager Ron Gardenhire's show.

KTWN-FM is owned by the Pohlad family.

The move will not affect Twins broadcasts locally. Games can be heard here on KROC-AM (1340), KFIL-FM (103.1), KDHL-AM (920), KWNG-FM in Red Wing (106.8) and KWNO-AM (1230) in Winona.

• Tim McCarver, who for three decades has been baseball's premier television analyst, announced that he is stepping down from his lead MLB on Fox position upon conclusion of this season's World Series.

"I don't think that there was any one event that said, 'this is too much.' I just thought that it has to end sometime. Timing is everything. I feel like the timing is right for this year,'' McCarver said.

McCarver, whose uninterrupted run as a major league player and broadcaster began in 1959, has worked 28 consecutive MLB postseasons on network television dating back to 1984, providing analysis for a record 23 World Series and 20 All-Star Games.

McCarver has teamed with Joe Buck on Fox a record 17 years as the network's lead national baseball broadcast team. No baseball broadcasting tandem has called more World Series (15) and All-Star Games (14).

• The 2013 season opens Sunday night on ESPN with Houston hosting the Texas Rangers. The Astros are making their American League debut.

ESPN has a new Sunday Night Baseball announcing trio — Dan Shulman, John Kruk and Orel Hershiser.

On Opening Day Monday, ESPN has the Red Sox-Yankees at noon and followed by World Series champion San Francisco and the Dodgers at 3 p.m. ESPN2 has a primetime doubleheader with the Phillies-Braves at 6 p.m. and the Cardinals-Diamondbacks at 9.

Men's hockey is on TV

Let me get this straight, the NCAA Women's Hockey Championship was nowhere to be found on TV last Sunday. In fact, none of the women's tournament games made it on the air.

The men's tournament, on the other hand, has all sorts of exposure. For the ninth consecutive year, ESPN networks will show all 12 games (semifinals and finals) of the four regionals along with the Frozen Four.

Every regional game will air over ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU or on ESPN3 and local syndication. The games carried on ESPN3 and local syndication will also re-air on ESPNU.

Tournament games start today and run through Sunday.

Minnesota, Quinnipiac, Minnesota and UMass Lowell and Notre Dame are the four No. 1 seeds.

The Gophers play Yale at 1 p.m. today in the West Regional at Grand Rapids, Mich., a game to air on ESPNU. The other West Regional game — North Dakota and Niagara — is also on ESPNU at 4:30.

The West Regional championship is at 3 p.m. Saturday, also on ESPNU. Joe Davis and Sean Ritchlin are the announcers.

Fox Sports North is part of the syndication deal. FSN will televise the NCAA Midwest Regional Saturday from Toledo, Ohio. It will show the St. Cloud and Notre Dame game at 12:30 p.m. Saturday followed by the Minnesota State-Mankato and Miami (Ohio) game at 4 p.m.

The championship will be televised at 3 p.m. Sunday on ESPNU.

In all, ESPNU will air 30 hours of game action within a 54-hour span.

The Frozen Four — April 13 and 15 — from Pittsburgh will air on ESPN2 and with the championship on ESPN.

ESPN has aired games from the men's championship since 1980 and last year signed an agreement to air the entire Division I championship through 2024.

Wouldn't you think there would be room for a few women's tournament games as well?