After an ugly (but successful) trip to Kansas City, the Twins are headed out east for the first time this season. They’ll touch down in the “City of Interleague Love” for three contests against the Phillies.

The Phillies are coming off a season that saw them make huge strides. However, their season still came off as a disappointment as they faded down the stretch and ended up in 3rd place. This offseason, they invested heavily in improving their team.

The Phillies added key players like Andrew McCutchen, Juan Nicasio, Jean Segura, David Robertson, J.T. Realmuto, Drew Butera, Trevor Plouffe, and some guy named Bryce Harper. These guys are joining a team with young studs like Aaron Nola, Maikel Franco, Odubel Herrera, and Rhys Hoskins, to create a potential juggernaut in the loaded NL East. The team comes into the Twins series at 4-1 after sweeping the 2018 division champion Braves and splitting two games with the Nationals. Let’s take a look at the roster.

As you can seen, the rotation is rather top-heavy, although Aaron Nola and Jake Arrieta are one of the best pairings in the league. The bullpen is similar to the rotation, with a couple good names in Nicasio and Robertson, but no other real impact guys. The lineup is loaded with good bats from top to bottom, although their defense is suspect in a few places. Bryce Harper and Maikel Franco both have reputations of being bad defenders, and McCutchen is slowing down on the back end of his career.

All in all, this will be the biggest challenge for the Twins so far in the young season. However, they luckily will not have to face Aaron Nola, according to the probable pitching matchups. Furthermore, the Phillies cut the aforementioned Butera and Plouffe before the end of spring training. They must be avenged!

Pitching Matchups

Friday, April 5th, 6:05 PM CDT

Jake Odorizzi vs. Nick Pivetta

Saturday, April 6th, 1:05 PM CDT

Michael Pineda vs. Jake Arrieta

Sunday, April 7th, 12:05 PM CDT

Jose Berrios vs. Zach Eflin