Opening day of the 2023 MLB playoffs and your Minnesota Twins in the thick of the festivities.
This thread will be for all four games, including the Twins v. Blue Jays.
Lopez v. Gausman and while Gausman has put up gaudy numbers this year, the Twins have had his number. Hopefully no regression to the mean. Pablo Lopez seems to be dialed in and I like his bulldog approach. Also the Twins look to have a bunch of relievers who can hit the upper 90's on their fastball. It seems that in the past few years, that's been a big component of teams that have gone far in the playoffs.
I'm writing this in the morning before the roster has been named. I may come back with comments. I may not!
Other games today:
Texas at Tampa - 2:00
Toronto at MN - 3:30
Arizona at Milwaukee - 6:00
Miami at Philadelphia - 7:00
Big cheer at Target Field as the Twins announce that their beer policy -- no sales after the 7th inning -- is being suspended tonight, due to the country music concert scheduled after the game.
The Twins have 7 games left, and need to go 4-3 to avoid 90 losses.
Miguel Sano needs one more HR to get to 30.
Max Kepler needs one more HR to get to 20.
Luis Arraez and Josh Donaldson are currently tied for highest OBP (.351) among 2021 Twins Not Named Nelson Cruz That Have At Least 250 PA. Others that are contending for this crown...
Bailey Ober - .500 OBP (not enough PA)
Nelson Cruz - .370 OBP (named Nelson Cruz)
Mitch Garver - .358 OBP (not enough PA)
Byron Buxton - .341 OBP (not enough PA)
Jorge Polanco - .325 OBP (too many April PA)
If Griffin Jax allows a HR today, he will pass J.A. Happ for most allowed by a Twins pitcher this year.
If Griffin Jax allows 19 runs today, he will pass J.A. Happ for most allowed by a Twins pitcher this year.
If Griffin Jax throws a complete game shutout today, he would tie for the team lead in complete games (1 - Jose Berrios) and take the team lead in shutouts.
If Alex Colomé throws 3.1 IP with no earned runs, he will have a lower ERA than Pineda. If that happens, only José Berríos will have thrown more innings for the Twins this year with a lower ERA than Colomé.
Somebody here mentioned Jorge Alcalá's last month has been really good. In the last 30 days, opponents are hitting .190/.227/.238 off him and he's allowed one run in 11 appearances (ERA of 0.73 and FIP of 1.54). He can get his season WHIP under 1.00 with 1.2 innings with no baserunners. The Twins have four pitchers currently under 1.00 WHIP this season.
The "spoilers of people we don't totally want to spoil" tour continues!
Tonight, Gant faces off against Cy Young contender Robbie Ray. That doesn't seem to be a good matchup for the home team, but that really hasn't mattered so far against the Jays, much to everyone but New York's chagrin.
José Berríos faces off against the Twins today. For the sake of the standings, I think I'll root for him.
- hungryjoe
This was pretty much what I was going to write about the Twins first matchup against their former ace. I want José to be great and have success more than I want this version of the Twins to win their 66th game today.
Berríos has pitched into the 7th inning in each of his last four starts. He's struck out 30, walked 2, and allowed 7 runs in 27.1 innings. His Game Score has been 60+ in each of those starts. He's kind of on a roll.
