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White Sox, Twins battle at top of AL Central
White Sox, Twins battle at top of AL Central
The Tigers and Indians were supposed to be the cream of the AL Central this season. Instead, the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins are perched at the top of the group looking towards the postseason.
The American League Central division race isn’t getting a lot of publicity. The Chicago White Sox are in first place at 60-46 (11.52 units in the black), but they’re playing second fiddle to the Cubs in the local and national press. The Minnesota Twins are a close second at 59-48 (17.38 units), but they’re the Minnesota Twins. They’ve been even more of an afterthought than usual since the Johan Santana trade.
Which suits handicappers just fine. They’ve made a mint on the MLB betting odds for both teams – only the Los Angeles Angels (20.48 units) have been more profitable than the Twins this season. Minnesota supporters continued to pound the pay window this week after the Twins took the first two games of their four-game set with the White Sox. However, Chicago struck back on Wednesday to hold onto first place in the AL Central. That sets up what should be a very interesting Game 4 at the HHH Metrodome.
Chicago’s ability to rake in the dough is directly attributable to the back end of the starting rotation. Gavin Floyd (+7.05 units) won Wednesday’s matchup; Thursday will see John Danks (+3.99 units) take the mound for the Pale Hose. They’re 13-8 behind Danks with the under cashing in at 14-7. The sophomore southpaw is keeping his end up with a 3.18 ERA and a 3.69 xFIP, putting him in the Top 10 in the American League for both categories.
The White Sox hitters haven’t always done their job, giving Danks just 4.4 runs of support per game, but things have been completely different of late. Danks failed to pitch a quality start in each of his last three outings, forcing Chicago to plate a combined 23 runs to get paid twice. All three contests went over.
Danks may or may not be running out of gas – he’s only thrown 95.9 pitches per game, a reasonable workload. The Chicago power surge, on the other hand, is more like what the White Sox have provided their other pitchers. This is the No. 5-ranked hitting team in the majors with a .782 OPS, which they’ve bumped up to .792 in July. Chicago is even better against righthanders at .794 OPS on the season.
Those gaudy numbers won’t faze Scott Baker. He’s been a rock for the Twins this year, posting a 3.38 ERA and a 3.84 xFIP. Minnesota is 10-6 with Baker on the hill for a total of 3.59 units in earnings. He doesn’t appear to be tiring, either, after sitting out most of May with a groin strain. Baker allowed a total of eight runs over his last four starts; the Twins split those games, losing twice on a final score of 1-0.
Like Danks, this is just Baker’s second full season in the majors. He’s only faced the White Sox six times in the past, and while his career ERA against them is an ugly 8.44, current Chicago batters have been limited to a .718 OPS. The last time Baker faced them back in April, Minnesota cruised to a 12-5 victory in the Windy City, knocking Danks out of the game in the third inning. Danks has gotten revenge twice since then, but the Twins still have a .897 OPS against him after six starts with a 7.06 ERA.
Minnesota is still without RF Michael Cuddyer (.700 OPS) as well as freshly injured 2B Alexi Casilla (.775 OPS) for Thursday’s matchup; Chicago won’t have 3B Joe Crede (.797 OPS) after putting him on the DL last week with a back inflammation. The Twins are -130 home favorites at most books with a total of eight runs. Game time is 8:10 p.m. Eastern.
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