Since We Last Met: Minnesota Twins

The White Sox close a nine-game post All-Star break road trip with a three-game set against those dastardly Minnesota Twins. The Sox and Twins have split the season series to this point, each taking two of three games in their respective home parks.

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What Have the Twins Been Up To?

The Twins opened the second half sweeping the lowly Athletics in Oakland before splitting a four-game set in Seattle. Since last facing the White Sox on May 4 (a game Minnesota won in 12 innings to escape a sweep in Chicago), the Twins are 32 up and 34 down. Even manager Rocco Baldelli calling out his team’s effort after being swept by Atlanta in late June could not right the ship for long. Minnesota is, for lack of better expression, mid. Mid, middling, middle, however you want to describe them, they are an average-at-best team. Their high water mark of the season has been a mere five games over .500, and haven’t been better than four over since mid-May. They currently sit 50-48, yet somehow, miraculously, are still the frontrunners in a very bad AL Central, holding a precarious two game lead over the pesky but equally mediocre Cleveland Guardians.

It is no secret that the AL Central is bad. Really really bad. It is easily the worst division in baseball. No team in this division would be in the playoff hunt in any other division. The “worst” team in the AL East has a better record than the division leaders in the AL Central as of this writing. The AL Central should be ashamed of itself. None deserve a postseason appearance, but one of these sorry squads will in fact win the division by default. And will promptly be destroyed in the Wild Card round. As it should be.

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What Are the Pitching Matchups? How Do We Match Up?

The Twins currently have a 3.76 team ERA, good for the third-best in baseball, while the Pale Hose rank 25th, at 4.61. Both teams seemed to have this series in mind coming out of the All-Star break and have lined up their top three starters accordingly. It might not matter much for the road team now, as the South Siders lost ground all week before even heading to Minneapolis/St Paul.

Friday, July 21

Saturday, July 22

Sunday, July 23

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The White Sox fell to 10-22 after the May 4 loss in the last meeting with the Twins. They currently sit 41-57, even after taking two of three in Atlanta. This more-often-bad-than-not Jekyll and Hyde squad now sits nine back of Minnesota. With the trade deadline looming, this series might be the final nail in the coffin for White Sox delusions of making a run, or just the impetus the dopes at 35th & Shields need to foolishly shift into buyer’s mode. If there were ever weighty implications for a series between two mediocre-to-bad teams, this could be that series.

I, for one, would welcome a fire sale ...

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