Series Preview: Blue Jays face Twins at Target Field

Thanks to last night’s heroics by Eddie Rosario, the Twins still have a two-game lead for the second wild card spot—but that doesn’t mean they can rest easy. There are still six teams within five games of the Twins, who are only three games behind the Yankees for the first wild card spot. It’s a tight race.

The good news is that the Twins kick off a four-game series against the Blue Jays tonight at Target Field, and the Blue Jays aren’t that great. As a combined team they are hitting only .242/.314/.412 on the year. Woof. Seriously, they’ve been one of the poorest hitting teams in baseball, ranking 28th in fWAR both on the year and the past 30 days.

The Blue Jays’ pitching isn’t quite as bad, but I don’t think it will save them this weekend. Tonight they are sending Brett Anderson to the mound to face Jose Berrios. Anderson started the year with the Cubs, but was released after posting an 8.18 ERA over 22.0 innings. He’s been better since signing with the Blue Jays in mid-August, so he’s sort of like a poor man’s Bartolo Colon except he eats way fewer innings. Probably eats less food too.

Speaking of Colon, he’s pitching on Friday. Friday is also the day the Twins are doing the special “BIG SEXY” promotion, so it’s quite fitting. Opposing Colo is J.A. Happ, so this game is basically a rematch of the one back on August 25th. The Twins won the game 6-1, and Big Sexy was stellar over 6.2 innings. Hopefully Colon can do that again, because his last start... did not go well.

Saturday marks the return of Little Big Sexy, Adalberto Mejia. His been injured since early August, but has slowly and surely crawled his way back to the majors before the end of the season. He pitched scoreless five inning for the Lookouts in his last rehab outing, so he appears ready to go. He’ll face Marco Estrada, who the Twins nabbed three runs over of over six innings back in August.

Sunday, fun day! Fun because Kyle Gibson is pitching, and somehow he’s been really good lately? He’s pitched at least six innings and given up no more than two runs in each of his last five starts. Most amazingly, perhaps, he’s only allowed one home run in that time. It should also be a fun day because Gibson will be facing Joe Biagini, who the Twins knocked around five runs over 3.2 innings back in August.

Anyway, I like the way this series looks for the Twins.

Pitching Match-Ups

Game 1: Thursday, September 14, 2017; 7:10 pm CT — Jose Berrios RHP vs. Brett Anderson LHP

Game 2: Friday, September 15, 2017; 7:10 pm CT — Bartolo Colon RHP vs. J.A. Happ LHP

Game 3: Saturday, September 16, 2017; 6:10 pm CT — Adalberto Mejia LHP vs. Marco Estrada RHP

Game 4: Sunday, September 17, 2017; 1:10 pm CT — Kyle Gibson RHP vs. Joe Biagini RHP