Series Preview: Yankees at Twins

After going 1-2 in Anaheim, the Twins return home to face the New York Yankees. The first thing that jumped out to me was that top first base prospect Greg Bird is out for the season due to shoulder surgery. The reason it caught my eye is because Greg Bird gave me my best front page title ever (Bird Kills Twins with Two Stones). On to the actual analysis!

The Yankees come in with a record of 31-34, currently last place in the AL East but are still only behind 6.5 games (Baltimore and Boston lead the division). Coming into today they are riding a four game losing streak.

What have they done right?

CC Sabathia and Masahiro Tanaka have been great, as they've combined for 5 bWAR on the year. Carlos Beltran is hitting the screws off the ball with 16 homers. They have a ridiculously good bullpen that strikes everyone out. Aroldis Chapman - 13.3 K/9, Dellin Betances - 17.3, Andrew Miller - 16.6.

The Twins would be happy with half of those K/9 numbers.

What have they done not right?

Outside of Sabathia, Tanaka, and the bullpen, the Yankees starters haven't been very good. All of them have ERAs > 4, bringing their team ERA rank down to 20th.

The Yankees lineup is noticeably old, and doesn't feature any other standouts aside from Beltran. Jacoby Ellsbury has just been okay (.772 OPS), and everyone else is hovering around .700 for OPS. They rank 25th in runs scored.

With that, let's look at the match ups

Game 1

Tonight, 7:10 PM CDT

CC Sabathia vs Kyle Gibson

Gibby had a rough start to his start in his last start, but had a better finish to his start than the start of his start.

Game 2

Friday, 7:10 PM CDT

Masahiro Tanaka vs Pat Dean

Yep, we get to face the Yankees' two best starters in a row. Aren't we lucky?

Game 3

Saturday, 1:10 PM CDT

Michael Pineda vs Ricky Nolasco

I'M GOING TO THIS GAME. (My first Twins game)