Coors Field, a warm day, and no humidor. MLB is bringing back the late 90s for tonight. Many dingers will be hit and I'm hoping for some to leave the park.
Watch on ESPN for the regular broadcast or ESPN2 for the Statcast version.
All posts by sean
2021 Game 84: Chicago White Sox at Minnesota Twins
Lance Lynn
vs
Michael Pineda
Pineda last pitched for the Twins on June 13 and had one rehab start on July 1. Four runs in four innings is good enough to start for the MLB club so here he is.
2021 Game 78: Minnesota Twins at Chicago White Sox
Bailey Ober
vs
Dylan Cease
Closing in on 50% of the season finished so lets take a look at what the projections think for the final half of the season.
Pro-rated Record: 69 - 93 (+3 wins since last time)
Runs scored: 757 (+7 runs)
Runs allowed: 860 (+38 runs)
Pythag prediction: 71 - 91 (-4 wins)
Offense has picked up some but the pitching/fielding was much worse over the last 20 games. The pro-rating now expects the Twins to give up an additional 38 runs since I looked at this at the beginning of the month.
FanGraphs now projects 77 wins for the season, down two wins from last time. This still feels about right. If they win tonight, that will put the June winning percentage at .480 and above May's .448. Losing will drop it to .440.
Lineup
Arraez - 2B
Donaldson - 3B
Larnach - LF
Cruz - DH
Kepler - RF
Kirilloff - 1B
Gordon - CF
Rortvedt - C
Simmons - SS
2021 Game 68: Minnesota Twins at Seattle Mariners
Bailey Ober
vs
Justus Sheffield
Supposedly there's a game happening tonight for the Twins. That appears to be news for the Twins too unfortunately. I will get to find out tomorrow whether they showed up and actually scored.
Lineup:
Polanco - 2B
Donaldson - 3B
Cruz - DH
Kirilloff - RF
Jeffers - C
Sanó - 1B
Arraez - LF
Simmons - SS
Celestino - CF
2021 Game 61: New York Yankees at Minnesota Twins
Gerrit Cole
vs
Randy Dobnak
Donaldson and Cole get to settle(?) their sticky beef today.
Lineup
Polanco - 2B
Donaldson - 3B
Larnach - LF
Cruz - DH
Jeffers - C
Kirilloff - RF
Sanó - 1B
Simmons - SS
Celestino - CF
2021 Game 55: Minnesota Twins at Baltimore Orioles
Randy Dobnak
vs
Matt Harvey
Twins now 33% done with the season. At the 25% mark I did some simple projections on record and run scoring for the team. Let's do it again.
Record: 66 - 96 (+9 wins since last time)
Runs scored: 750 (+5 runs)
Runs allowed: 822 (-49 runs)
Pythag prediction: 75 - 87 (+6 wins)
FanGraphs still projects the team at 79 wins, unchanged from two weeks ago. I think I still take the under for that number but the 75 - 79 win mark feels about right.
Lineup
Polanco - SS
Donaldson - 3B
Kirilloff - LF
Cruz - DH
Larnach - RF
Astudillo - 1B
Gordon - 2B
Jeffers - C
Celestino - CF
2021 Game 49: Baltimore Orioles at Minnesota Twins
Jorge López
vs
Michael Pineda
I can scarcely believe it. A sweep, of the other team, is actually possible today.
The wins and losses each are prepared to roll over to the next tens. Will the day end with 20 wins or 30 losses?
Lineup
Kepler - RF
Polanco - 2B
Cruz - DH
Kirilloff - 1B
Sanó - 3B
Larnach - LF
Astudillo - C
Refsnyder - CF
Simmons - SS
2021 Game 41: Chicago White Sox at Minnesota Twins
Wins are good. Maybe the Twins can get another today?
Lucas Giolito
vs
Matt Shoemaker
Well, can't lose tomorrow at least.
The Twins are 25% done with the season. FanGraphs has the Twins at 79 wins now, down nine wins from the preseason. I suspect the gap will increase by the All-Star break.
Crudely projecting out existing stats to 162 games gives us:
Record: 57 - 105
Runs scored: 745
Runs allowed: 871
Pythag prediction: 69 - 93
Lineup:
Arraez - 2B
Polanco - SS
Cruz - DH
Kepler - CF
Sanó - 1B
Larnach - LF
Astudillo - 3B
Garlick - RF
Rortvedt - C
2021 Game 34: Minnesota Twins at Chicago White Sox
J.A. Happ
vs
Dallas Keuchel
The Twins have a palindromic record in a bad way after yesterday's game. Today we get to hope they break the palindrome in a hopeful way and not to get closer to losing two-thirds of their games.
2021 Game 29: Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins
Yang
vs
Thorpe
Praying for a real game today. The Twins are good at those.
Lineup:
Buxton - CF
Donaldson - 3B
Cruz - DH
Garlick - LF
Garver - C
Polanco - 2B
Kepler - RF
Sanó - 1B
Simmons - SS