Minnesota Twins in, next stop New York
What a wonderful time to be a fan in Minnesota. Following Monday night's, Brett Favre-led win by the Vikings over the Packers, the Twins topped the Tigers on Tuesday in 12 innings to claim the AL Central and the last spot in the playoffs. They'll need more of the magic to continue, a whole lot more, when they dive right into postseason play in the ALDS against the heavily-favored Yankees.
The Minnesota Twins had better muster up every last ounce of good karma they can get out of their blessed Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome for their American League Division Series with the New York Yankees.
The Twins are going to need every bounce, break, call to have any hope of stunning bettors and the Yankees. In fact, Minnesota might need all of that to take even one game from New York. Don’t be surprised if Ron Gardenhire gives Brett Favre a call before the series shifts to the Twin Cities next week.
Look, we all want to lay some money on the Twins after their 6-5 win in 12 innings over the Tigers on Tuesday. Not only did they reward backers as -175 moneyline chalk, but Minnesota kept everyone on the edge of their seats. Alex Casilla’s run-scoring single in the bottom of the 12th was the difference in a barnburner that featured two ties and three lead changes, both closers going Jeckyll & Hyde, and even Jim Leyland offering up a rare fist pump.
Let’s hope for Twins bettors that the AL Central champions have something left in the tank.
ALDS: Twins (+300) vs. Yankees (-380)
The good news for Minnesota (87-76, +3.48 units) is it heads into its best-of-five Division Series with New York (103-59, +11.78 units) as the hottest wager in baseball.
That’s about where the positive vibes and more important quantitative stuff ends in favor of the Twins, but at least underdog bettors have something on which to base their wagers this week.
Including Tuesday’s escape against Detroit, Minnesota has won five consecutive and 18 of its last 22 games against the moneyline. It’s how the Twins caught the Tigers to earn their date with baseball’s best team during the regular season.
The Yankees come into the series losers of three of their last four, but none of that matters because Joe Girardi had taken his foot off the gas. What’s more integral to the outcome of the series is the Bronx Bombers dominated Minnesota this season, taking all seven meetings. That includes a four-game sweep at the house that Steinbrenner’s tax breaks built in May and a three-game pasting at the Metrodome in July.
New York outscored Minnesota by an average of almost 2.5 runs in the seven games (5.86 to 3.57), and that was with Justin Morneau in the lineup for the Twins. Morneau is easily Minnesota’s second-best player, and until Joe Mauer wins his first AL MVP (potentially very soon), the Canadian slugger is the only MVP on the roster. The first baseman is out for the season because of a stress fracture in his lower back, leaving Mauer without any real protection in the batting order.
Oddsmakers have the Yanks as -285 favorites on the betting odds board for Wednesday’s series opener (6:07 PM ET) at Yankee Stadium, with the Twins priced as +265 underdogs. CC Sabathia (19-8, 3.37 ERA) takes the ball for New York, while Minnesota is expected to send Brian Duensing (5-2, 3.64 ERA) to the hill to make his ninth career start. Sabathia is 9-0 with a 2.04 ERA since the calendar turned to August, and has a 1.29 ERA against the Twins this season.
Girardi has penciled in A.J. Burnett (13-9, 4.04 ERA) to start Friday night’s Game 2 (6:07 ET), and the outing won’t come without controversy. Jose Molina will be behind the plate for Burnett instead of Jorge Posada, and the latter isn’t very happy about it. You can’t really argue with the numbers: Opposing batters are hitting only .221 against Burnett when Molina catches the righthander and .270 when Posada is in the squat.
The Twins hadn’t yet announced their rotation for the rest of the series as of press time, but either Nick Blackburn (11-11, 4.07 ERA) or Carl Pavano (14-12, 5.10 ERA) is likely to go in Game 2. After that, Gardenhire would be able to return to Scott Baker (15-9, 4.36) for Sunday’s Game 3 back in Minnesota (Baker started in the tiebreaker game with the Tigers), with Blackburn or Pavano getting the call in a potential Game 4 next Monday.
Andy Pettitte (14-8, 4.16 ERA) toes the rubber on Sunday for the Yankees, and because of the number of days off, New York is expected to go with a three-man rotation. That would set up Burnett to pitch in an unlikely Game 5 back at Yankee Stadium next Wednesday.
What a wonderful time to be a fan in Minnesota. Following Monday night's, Brett Favre-led win by the Vikings over the Packers, the Twins topped the Tigers on Tuesday in 12 innings to claim the AL Central and the last spot in the playoffs. They'll need more of the magic to continue, a whole lot more, when they dive right into postseason play in the ALDS against the heavily-favored Yankees.
The Minnesota Twins had better muster up every last ounce of good karma they can get out of their blessed Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome for their American League Division Series with the New York Yankees.
The Twins are going to need every bounce, break, call to have any hope of stunning bettors and the Yankees. In fact, Minnesota might need all of that to take even one game from New York. Don’t be surprised if Ron Gardenhire gives Brett Favre a call before the series shifts to the Twin Cities next week.
Look, we all want to lay some money on the Twins after their 6-5 win in 12 innings over the Tigers on Tuesday. Not only did they reward backers as -175 moneyline chalk, but Minnesota kept everyone on the edge of their seats. Alex Casilla’s run-scoring single in the bottom of the 12th was the difference in a barnburner that featured two ties and three lead changes, both closers going Jeckyll & Hyde, and even Jim Leyland offering up a rare fist pump.
Let’s hope for Twins bettors that the AL Central champions have something left in the tank.
ALDS: Twins (+300) vs. Yankees (-380)
The good news for Minnesota (87-76, +3.48 units) is it heads into its best-of-five Division Series with New York (103-59, +11.78 units) as the hottest wager in baseball.
That’s about where the positive vibes and more important quantitative stuff ends in favor of the Twins, but at least underdog bettors have something on which to base their wagers this week.
Including Tuesday’s escape against Detroit, Minnesota has won five consecutive and 18 of its last 22 games against the moneyline. It’s how the Twins caught the Tigers to earn their date with baseball’s best team during the regular season.
The Yankees come into the series losers of three of their last four, but none of that matters because Joe Girardi had taken his foot off the gas. What’s more integral to the outcome of the series is the Bronx Bombers dominated Minnesota this season, taking all seven meetings. That includes a four-game sweep at the house that Steinbrenner’s tax breaks built in May and a three-game pasting at the Metrodome in July.
New York outscored Minnesota by an average of almost 2.5 runs in the seven games (5.86 to 3.57), and that was with Justin Morneau in the lineup for the Twins. Morneau is easily Minnesota’s second-best player, and until Joe Mauer wins his first AL MVP (potentially very soon), the Canadian slugger is the only MVP on the roster. The first baseman is out for the season because of a stress fracture in his lower back, leaving Mauer without any real protection in the batting order.
Oddsmakers have the Yanks as -285 favorites on the betting odds board for Wednesday’s series opener (6:07 PM ET) at Yankee Stadium, with the Twins priced as +265 underdogs. CC Sabathia (19-8, 3.37 ERA) takes the ball for New York, while Minnesota is expected to send Brian Duensing (5-2, 3.64 ERA) to the hill to make his ninth career start. Sabathia is 9-0 with a 2.04 ERA since the calendar turned to August, and has a 1.29 ERA against the Twins this season.
Girardi has penciled in A.J. Burnett (13-9, 4.04 ERA) to start Friday night’s Game 2 (6:07 ET), and the outing won’t come without controversy. Jose Molina will be behind the plate for Burnett instead of Jorge Posada, and the latter isn’t very happy about it. You can’t really argue with the numbers: Opposing batters are hitting only .221 against Burnett when Molina catches the righthander and .270 when Posada is in the squat.
The Twins hadn’t yet announced their rotation for the rest of the series as of press time, but either Nick Blackburn (11-11, 4.07 ERA) or Carl Pavano (14-12, 5.10 ERA) is likely to go in Game 2. After that, Gardenhire would be able to return to Scott Baker (15-9, 4.36) for Sunday’s Game 3 back in Minnesota (Baker started in the tiebreaker game with the Tigers), with Blackburn or Pavano getting the call in a potential Game 4 next Monday.
Andy Pettitte (14-8, 4.16 ERA) toes the rubber on Sunday for the Yankees, and because of the number of days off, New York is expected to go with a three-man rotation. That would set up Burnett to pitch in an unlikely Game 5 back at Yankee Stadium next Wednesday.