Minnesota Twins' playoff hopes fading as they arrive in Toronto
Minnesota Twins' playoff hopes fading as they arrive in Toronto
The Twins wrap up a seven-game road trip this week in Toronto against the Blue Jays. Out of the Wild Card hunt, Minnesota's only chance is to catch the Tigers in the AL Central.
Once again our 'worst of the worst' series on the MLB schedule isn't exactly a battle between truly horrible teams. Minnesota enters this four-game set at Toronto with a level 68-68 record and are still mathematically in the playoff picture. The Blue Jays have watched their fast start crumble to a 61-75 mark, but they do enter off a split of a four-game series with the Yankees and their offense cooking along presently.
The Blue Jays have dominated this series the past few years. Toronto took three of four in Minnesota back in mid-April, the third series of the season for both clubs, and that raised their record against the Twins since the start of 2006 to 19-7. The Jays are 7-2 vs. Minnesota here at the Rogers Centre in that span.
For the series bet we're obviously looking at the first three games, and that's why I hate betting four-game series since the mentality of a team changes in Game 3 knowing it's not the series finale. No doubt, they're out to win each game, period. But at this time of year especially, with two teams that aren't necessarily in the real thick of playoff races, trying to bet a four-game series is even more difficult.
The series opener has a total wildcat in the capping mix with Minnesota's Jeff Manship making just his second career start. Game 3 was to have featured a big-name matchup with Carl Pavano on the hill for the Twins opposite Toronto's Roy Halladay. However, Halladay has now been pushed to Thursday’s finale with Wednesday’s arm now unknown.
Toronto has shut down lefty Marc Rzepczynski for the remainder of the season as they had him on a season innings limit, so it won’t be him on Wednesday. And that’s also probably too soon to bring southpaw Brett Cecil back after he threw 99 times in a 6-4 loss to the Yankees on Saturday.
Had Halladay stayed in the rotation for Wednesday, it would be a no-brainer to take the Jays on the series bet, especially with how poorly the Twins have been on the road (29-38). We’ll have to see how the pitching lines out and what line the books give us on the series before laying that. For Monday’s opener, I just like the Under 9½ though given the rut I’ve beenin, you may want to go the other way with your cash.
PITCHING MATCHUPS
Game 1, Mon, Sep 7, 1:07 p.m. (ET): Jeff Manship (1-0, 3.75) vs. Scott Richmond (8-10, 4.53)
Game 2, Tue, Sep 8, 7:07 p.m.: Brian Duensing (3-1, 3.81) vs. Ricky Romero (12-11, 4.15)
Game 3, Wed, Sep 9, 7:07 p.m.: Carl Pavano (14-13, 5.09) vs. Undecided
Game 4, Thu, Sep 10, 12:37 p.m.: Scott Baker (15-11, 4.44) vs. Roy Halladay (14-13, 2.98)
WEATHER
With the roof at the Rogers Centre we won't have to worry about any rainouts at least. Monday looks like a good chance for the roof to stay open under partly cloudy skies with a slight chance of rain in the area and the temperature warming into the low-70s in the afternoon. Tuesday there is a 40% chance of the wet stuff, then it drops back down to 20% for Wednesday and Thursday. Will definitely need to keep an eye on this as the forecasts become clearer during the next few days.
The Twins wrap up a seven-game road trip this week in Toronto against the Blue Jays. Out of the Wild Card hunt, Minnesota's only chance is to catch the Tigers in the AL Central.
Once again our 'worst of the worst' series on the MLB schedule isn't exactly a battle between truly horrible teams. Minnesota enters this four-game set at Toronto with a level 68-68 record and are still mathematically in the playoff picture. The Blue Jays have watched their fast start crumble to a 61-75 mark, but they do enter off a split of a four-game series with the Yankees and their offense cooking along presently.
The Blue Jays have dominated this series the past few years. Toronto took three of four in Minnesota back in mid-April, the third series of the season for both clubs, and that raised their record against the Twins since the start of 2006 to 19-7. The Jays are 7-2 vs. Minnesota here at the Rogers Centre in that span.
For the series bet we're obviously looking at the first three games, and that's why I hate betting four-game series since the mentality of a team changes in Game 3 knowing it's not the series finale. No doubt, they're out to win each game, period. But at this time of year especially, with two teams that aren't necessarily in the real thick of playoff races, trying to bet a four-game series is even more difficult.
The series opener has a total wildcat in the capping mix with Minnesota's Jeff Manship making just his second career start. Game 3 was to have featured a big-name matchup with Carl Pavano on the hill for the Twins opposite Toronto's Roy Halladay. However, Halladay has now been pushed to Thursday’s finale with Wednesday’s arm now unknown.
Toronto has shut down lefty Marc Rzepczynski for the remainder of the season as they had him on a season innings limit, so it won’t be him on Wednesday. And that’s also probably too soon to bring southpaw Brett Cecil back after he threw 99 times in a 6-4 loss to the Yankees on Saturday.
Had Halladay stayed in the rotation for Wednesday, it would be a no-brainer to take the Jays on the series bet, especially with how poorly the Twins have been on the road (29-38). We’ll have to see how the pitching lines out and what line the books give us on the series before laying that. For Monday’s opener, I just like the Under 9½ though given the rut I’ve beenin, you may want to go the other way with your cash.
PITCHING MATCHUPS
Game 1, Mon, Sep 7, 1:07 p.m. (ET): Jeff Manship (1-0, 3.75) vs. Scott Richmond (8-10, 4.53)
Game 2, Tue, Sep 8, 7:07 p.m.: Brian Duensing (3-1, 3.81) vs. Ricky Romero (12-11, 4.15)
Game 3, Wed, Sep 9, 7:07 p.m.: Carl Pavano (14-13, 5.09) vs. Undecided
Game 4, Thu, Sep 10, 12:37 p.m.: Scott Baker (15-11, 4.44) vs. Roy Halladay (14-13, 2.98)
WEATHER
With the roof at the Rogers Centre we won't have to worry about any rainouts at least. Monday looks like a good chance for the roof to stay open under partly cloudy skies with a slight chance of rain in the area and the temperature warming into the low-70s in the afternoon. Tuesday there is a 40% chance of the wet stuff, then it drops back down to 20% for Wednesday and Thursday. Will definitely need to keep an eye on this as the forecasts become clearer during the next few days.