Moving on from the armpit of the Rust Belt home of a terrible mascot Minnesotan nightmare historic city of Philadelphia, the Twins are looking to rebound from their first series loss of the season. Our boys of summer will be making the short trip up to Queens for a two-game series against the New York Mets.

Last year, the lesser Big Apple squad got off to a scorching-hot start, only to sink to nearly the bottom of the barrel in the NL East. It was another lost season for the Mets, who struggled with injuries to key players like Noah Syndergaard and squandered one of the greatest pitching seasons ever (courtesy of Jacob deGrom) by failing to score runs. This offseason, the Mets’ new GM chose to use the franchise’s considerable resources to prep the roster for a run at the NL East crown.

This offseason, the Mets aggressively went out and signed impact players like Jeurys Familia, Wilson Ramos, and Jed Lowrie. Additionally, they traded some minor leaguers and a few marginal big-leaguers to the Mariners for slugging second baseman Robinson Cano and ace reliever Edwin Diaz. However, they do have some injuries at the moment, as Lowrie, 3B Todd Frazier, and star outfielder Yoenis Cespedes are out. Cespedes will likely miss the whole season. The New York nine are coming into the Twins series at 6-3. They swept the miserable mess that is the Miami Derek Jeters Marlins in their opening series, before dropping two of three to the Nationals. Let’s see what the roster looks like.

The Mets starting rotation may be among the best in baseball, as the deGrom-Syndergaard combo is about as good as it gets in the MLB. deGrom dominated hitters all of last year on his way to a Cy Young award, and so far this year has a 0.00 ERA and 24 K’s in two starts. While deGrom uses a variety of nasty breaking pitches, Syndergaard overpowers hitters with a rocket fastball to go along with some great secondary stuff. The Twins were lucky enough to pull both of them in their two-game series. The bullpen was revamped in the offseason, and has some big names who can come in late in games. Jeurys Familia and Edwin Diaz are the main high-leverage stoppers to watch out for.

The Mets lineup has a good blend of youth and experience, and is strong from top to bottom. Robinson Cano and our old friend Wilson Ramos bring the experience and name-recognition (as well as some strong bats), and promising youngsters like Pete Alonso, J.D. Davis, and Michael Conforto provide depth to the lineup.

Coming off a tough series loss, things are not getting easier for the Twins and young manager Rocco Baldelli. It’s going to take timely hitting and nothing short of stellar pitching to win either of these games. However, you’ve got to beat the best to be the best, and the young Twins will have a chance to do just that against the K-makers that will be on the mound for the opposing squad.

Pitching Matchups

Tuesday, April 9th, 6:10 CDT

Kyle Gibson vs. Jacob deGrom

Wednesday, April 10th, 6:10 CDT

Jake Odorizzi vs. Noah Syndergaard