NFL
By: Steve Rogers
When is home sweet home not so sweet? When you’re coming home to face the juggernaut that is the New York Yankees. How do you break a Minnesota Twins fan (or Players) heart in a single word? Say Yankees. The single most cringe-worthy word in the Minnesota lore is Yankees. The Minnesota Twins’ all-time record against the Yankees is 769-1131. That’s nearly 400 games UNDER .500. To say that’s bad is an understatement. It becomes historically worse in the playoffs as the Twins have lost 13 consecutive times to the Yankees, good for the longest losing streak against any single opponent in playoff history. These Yankees aren’t just a thorn in the side. Clearly, they are the Twins’ kryptonite. After a grueling eight games in seven consecutive days on the road, the Twins would like nothing more than to come home and lick their wounds both metaphorically and physically as they went three and five during that stretch. I mentioned physically because the Twins have been dealing with a barrage of injuries throughout the roster. They are looking more like a mash unit than an MLB team. I guess there’s no rest for the weary after all.
This year Yankees club is no different, if not even more so imposing coming in with the best record in all of Major League Baseball at 39-15. Over the last ten games, they and two other teams are on fire with an eight and two mark. In comparison, the Twins are four and six over their last ten. The Yankees always have a killer lineup. Over the last few years has been anchored by Aaron Judge, usually known for his prowess of power. While he is leading the team and the league in home runs, his avg has climbed this year as he is also hitting a club leading .313. Giving him yet another league-leading stat, his ops is 1.059. How about this one? Aaron Judge on the road this season is hitting an impressive avg .296. The Twins, however, are still managing to tread water and hold down control of first place in the central division. With a record of 32-24. Hopefully, the Twins can “Limp” along a little bit longer and see the healthy return of key contributors like Miguel Sano and starting pitcher Sonny Gray amongst several others. Team leaders in pitching continue to be the emerging rookie phenom Joe Ryan who has the most wins at five. Ryan is also leading in strikeouts with 42. He has delivered four quality starts, tops in the club. So, in eight total starts, he’s fifty-fifty in quality appearances.
The aforementioned Gray has three quality starts in seven overall. He also has three wins. Staying with pitching, how great has Devin Smeltzer been? Smeltzer has the teams leading ERA at a blistering sub-two 1.93. It should be interesting to see if the high-quality pitching can continue. Will it be able to slow down Judge and the rest of the Bronx Bombers? If so, we might possibly see this Twins team take a step in the right direction of stopping the bleeding of losing to the damn Yankees. As a lifelong Twins fan, I’ve never been a betting man myself, but I’d be lying if I wasn’t considering putting down on the Yankees winning this series.
The starters for game one of this series will be the Yankees Jameson Taillon, who is six and one on the year. However, the Twins have not released who will be starting at this time. After a four-hit performance yesterday, look to Luis Arraez to bring that hot stick back home against the Yankees as he’s hitting an otherworldly .397 avg at home. We should see the Twin’s Chris Archer on Wednesday, game two. New to the club this year, he’ll be looking to lock up his first victory for his new team at their home. The Yankees Nestor Cortes will go against him, whose ERA is a microscopic 1.50. The projected starters for Thursday’s match-up will be Dylan Bundy for the Twins. He’s 3-3 and has 36 strikeouts. Going for the Yankees will be Gerrit Cole, who’s 5-1 with 81 strikeouts. Coming off his most recent outing where he was nearly perfect, he’ll be looking to stay hot. The Twins may need more than stellar play but some lucky bounces as well to take two out of three from this series.
