All posts by sean

2023 LCS Games 3 and more

Game log for the LCS games if anyone wants to talk about this baseball thing.

Wednesday:
Astros vs Rangers, in progress.

Thursday:
Phillies vs Diamondbacks, 4:07 p.m., TBS

Astros vs Rangers, 7:03 p.m., FS1

Friday:
Astros vs Rangers, 4:07 p.m., FS1

Phillies vs Diamondbacks, 7:07 p.m., TBS

2023 Game 168: Houston Astros at Minnesota Twins (and NLDS Games 3)

José Urquidy
vs
Joe Ryan
FS1 at 6:07 p.m. CDT

NLDS games:
TBD vs Aaron Nola, TBS at 4:07 p.m.

Lance Lynn vs Brandon Pfaady, TBS at 8:07 p.m.

Urquidy's strikeout rate is down compared to last year (6.4 K/9 compared to 7.3 K/9 last year), his walk rate is up (+1.5 BB/9) and his home run rate is steady yet high (1.6 HR/9). All of these things match up well with what Twins batters can feast on. The rest of the league already has with his 5.39 ERA this year in 61 innings. I doubt Houston will let him pitch deep so Twins need to get their scoring in early and often.

2023 Game 158: Oakland Athletics at Minnesota Twins

Joey Estes
vs
Pablo López

Estes made his MLB debut last week against Seattle. He gave up six runs, five earned, over his 4 ⅔ innings. His MiLB is decent but not great. He's still young as his 22nd birthday happens during this year's Division Series.

The Twins are now 11 wins over .500. Their preseason projections had them barely winning the division at 83 wins. They now predict three additional wins over the final five games to get them to 87 wins. They've finished with 87 wins once as the Twins in 2009 and once as the Senators in 1945. The Tigers finished ahead of them by one win in 1945 but they also played three fewer games. The Senators managed two ties in their 156 games.

López ranks well on several AL leaderboards. He's second in strikeouts; ten more puts him in front if Gausman does not make another start. He's tenth in ERA at 3.61; another solid start would put him ahead of Berríos at ninth with 3.58. Seven shutout innings would put him above Eflin's 3.50 (six scoreless might at 3.4957). His FIP ranks slightly better at sixth with 3.60. Another win puts him at 12 for the season and in a many-way tie for seventh. He's eighth in WHIP, right ahead of Gray. Breaking that apart so he's tenth in the H part and fifth in the W part. K/9 he's third and a high strikeout game might put him second. Fifth in innings pitched, two ahead of Kyle Gibson. Finally, his rWAR is tied with rookie Tanner Bibee for seventh at 3.6 WAR. It's been a great season and he will get first crack at earning a postseason win.

2023 Game 146: Tampa Bay Rays at Minnesota Twins

Taj Bradley
vs
Dallas Keuchel

Another Wednesday, another day game.

Another surprisingly decent start by Keuchel against the Mets. Now he's facing an actually good team. This is also the final game the Twins have against a good team this season. Yes, it's only game 146. Next up is a road trip against the White Sox and Reds (75-71 right now). After that it's a gentle stretch into the postseason with the Angels and Athletics visiting before the final series in Denver.

2023 Game 140: Minnesota Twins at Cleveland Guardians

Day game alert!

Joe Ryan
vs
Gavin Williams

A much better showing against Cleveland this year in September that last year. The division is nearly clinched so finishing off the sweep will cut the magic number to 15, give the Twins a winning record against Cleveland, and put them into the (AL Central) vaunted air of eight games over .500.

Gavin started the middle game of the series in Minnesota, pitching only a single inning due to injury. He hasn't pitched since so it might be another short start from either injury or rust.