Two wins in a row! Injuries to Kepler and Arraez! Can we have good things?
By tonight, the Twins will be two-thirds of the way through their schedule, as one of the teams still on track to play all sixty games. They’re still in third, but can erase that with a perfect day here.
After finally coming back home to WGOM, in August I went through the most stressful month of my entire life. Without getting into specifics, suffice it to say that it’s over, and it’s nice to be back to worrying about nothing but silly stuff like baseball again. Let’s win two, gang.
A much needed win last night. FanGraphs still has them at 94.9% chance to make the postseason but now as a wildcard instead of the division winner. There are a lot more needed wins over Chicago and Cleveland if they want to win the division.
Josh Donaldson should be activated for tonight's game too. Time for him to start hitting.
Hey Big Mike, good to have you back. You see the Twins have really been scuffing along lately. Poor pitching, even poorer hitting, some sloppy fielding to just to add to the misery. So I know you haven't been around lately but it sure would be nice if you made up for your absence (ahem) and blow away a bunch of White Sox batters. Just sayin'...
Dallas Keuchel on the mound for the Sox and he's probably what the Chicago was looking for in a veteran pitcher. Let's hope the Twins can get some timely hits of the crafty lefty.
Oh and Byron Buxton's back too!!!
Fun line up tonight for Twins, let's see if that snaps them out of their zombie like state.
Line Up
1b Sano
SS Polanco
DH Cruz
LF Rosario
RF Gonzalez
3B Adrianza
CF Buxton
2B Vargas
C Jeffers
+600 AL Pennant (3rd behind NYY, TB, tied with HOU)
+1200 World Series (3rd behind LAD, NYY, tied with TB and HOU)
Odds today:
35.3 win pace
+700 AL Pennant (4th behind NYY, TB, OAK)
+1400 World Series (5th LAD, NYY, TB, OAK)
Change in odds reflects the 1-4 (4 game losing streak) week the Twins have had. Vegas still sees Twins as the favorites to win the AL Central.
Maeda vs Mizer - The Twins best pitcher vs a rookie making his 3rd start. Twins are slightly more than 2:1 favorites and Vegas has finally started to adjust the total line with an 8.5 on today's game. Twins are 11-21 (2-13 at home!) to the total.
I like the Twins to win - covering the 1.5 run line. If the Twins figure out Mizer they could put up 8 or more runs by themselves so not touching the OVER/UNDER today.
Dobnak starts game 1, not sure yet who starts game 2 (probably a bullpen game).
This all sort of sneaked up on me, so I don't have anything extra. Cleveland and Chicago have caught up, so it's time to put some distance between us and them again.
Time for Berríos to continue his success from the last game and continue how well the starters have pitched in this series. The Twins meanwhile scored four against Clevinger to close out July. He pitched well, if wild, against Cincinnati earlier this month and has been out since.
The Twins are 4-2 against Cleveland so far. One more win clinches at least .500 against them this year. Let's make this a 4-2 game to turn the season series to 5-2.
So the 2020 season is officially half over and the Twins sitting pretty at 20-10. Google tells me that's winning every two out of three games or a .66666666666666666666666 winning percentage. They've done it with pretty good pitching and some timely hitting, which will usually lead to winning lots of games. Seems to prove out.
Speaking of good pitching, Justin Shane Bieber on the mound for Clevelanders. He is really good with a Yummy 5-0 record this year. WHIP of 0.75, 65ks in 40.2 innings with just 6 walks and 25 hits. But Never Say Never Twins fans, Rich Hill is due for a stellar performance himself.
We ride into Ohio behind King Kenta* who is coming off perhaps the best performance of his career. He'll face off against Civale, who like any member of the Cleveland pitching staff, is "pretty good".
The Twins are only 1.5 games ahead of the Spiders, so this three game series will be an important one.
For the third consecutive Sunday it's a Twins Royals match up. I'll be happy to be done with this team.
Bullpen game vs a Rookie still looking for his first win - repeat of Monday's matchup the Twins won 4-1 getting 2 runs off Bubic in the 4th inning and 6 twins pitchers not giving up a run until a Dozier HR in the 9th.
Take the Twins to win and lets roll with the under on the total
Odds last week:
37 game win pace
+650 AL Pennant (3rd behind NYY and TB)
+1200 World Series (4th LAD, NYY, TB)
Odds today:
38.6 win pace
+600 AL Pennant (3rd behind NYY, TB, tied with HOU)
+1200 World Series (3rd behind LAD, NYY, tied with TB and HOU)
Not much change for Twins future odds after a 4-2 week. Houston odds are decreasing (IE - improving) and Vegas sees Oakland, Cleveland and the White Sox as lower tier teams from an odds standpoint.
Twins are 9-18 to the total and 2-13 at home to the total - enough games to consider this a trend and it will be interesting to see if Vegas lines adjust (9.5 total today suggests they have not yet adjusted).
