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
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.
Rangers at Rays, 2:08 p.m. ABC
Blue Jays at Twins, 3:38 p.m. ESPN
Diamondbacks at Brewers, 6:08 p.m. ESPN 2
Marlins at Phillies, 7:08 p.m. ESPN
That was fun. Let's do it again tonight.
ALWC1: TOR at MIN
ALWC2: TEX at TBR
NLWC1: ARI at MIL
NLWC2: MIA at PHI
ALDS1: ALWC2 at BAL
ALDS2: ALWC1 at HOU
NLDS1: NLWC2 at ATL
NLDS2: NLWC1 at LAD
ALCS:
NLCS:
World Series:
Bailey Over
vs
Bullpen day
Final regular season game. Everybody has clinched but seeding still to be determined. All games on MLB.tv are free for the day. Enjoy every game being on at the same time.
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.
Day game and free game alerts!
Bailey Ober
vs
Hunter Greene
Greene has been both very good (6 hitless innings with 11 strikeouts against the Cubs) and very bad (nine runs against the Blue Jays a month ago).
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.
Game in progress. Try to spot Twayn behind home plate.
Tylor Megill
vs
Pablo López
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.
