The Twins are playing extremely well. They are 33 games over .500 after coming from behind to beat the Detroit Tigers 4-3 on Monday, they are 8-2 in their last 10 games and they have a comfortable lead over the second-place Cleveland Indians. And that lead will either be 5.5 games or 6.5 games, depending on the outcome of the Indians/White Sox game.
But as Bring Me The News has pointed out, it’s the next 12 games that likely will decide the American League’s Central division.
After a steady diet of South Siders and terrible Tigers, this is what awaits the Twins: three games at Boston, six games at home against Cleveland and Washington, and three more games at Cleveland.
I predict the following: one win at Boston (sorry), four wins against the Tribe and Nationals and two wins at Cleveland for a 12-game record of 7-5. Cleveland, meanwhile, when they’re not playing the Twins, have three more games against the White Sox and three in Los Angeles against the Angels. After all that, I expect the Twins to still be leading the Indians in the division.
If the Twins struggle, they will get some relief because they play the White Sox, Royals, Tigers and Royals to end the season. The Twins are 31-13 against those three teams.
Reliever Randy Dobnak gets the ball for the Twins on Tuesday. Are the Twins going with an opener?
Extra innings…
-The Twins won by a run on Sunday, but it really shouldn’t have been that close. The Twins scored only four runs on 14 hits because they were 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position. Jorge Polanco and rising star, Luis Arraez, had six of those hits, but Max Kepler was the hero after he drove in the go-ahead runs on a crisply hit single to left.
-The bullpen pitched four scoreless innings and picked up the win and save. Zack Littell is now 3-0 and ace lefty, Taylor Rogers, earned his 22nd save. Reliever Tyler Duffey struck out the side in the sixth.