ALDS Game 1: Minnesota Twins at New York Yankees
How much can the Minnesota Twins possibly have left to challenge the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series?
Of course the Twins beat the Tigers in a 12-inning classic in Tuesday night’s one-game tiebreaker for the AL Central title. And now Minnesota, which has won 17 of its past 21 games, has to play the powerful Yankees less than 24 hours later in the Yankees’ yard against possible AL Cy Young winner C.C. Sabathia. And did I mention that New York was 7-0 against Minnesota in the regular season?
Perhaps you can see why the Yanks are huge -320 money line favorites for Game 1 on WagerWeb.com.
Tonight’s pitching matchup seems totally one-sided, as Minnesota starts rookie Brian Duensing, who has never even been to New York, much less pitched at Yankee Stadium. He wasn’t even sure if he would be on the playoff roster.
“I didn’t know if I was going to be in the pen because what if the first round we really only need three starters?” Duensing said. “So I kind of thought there would be a chance that I wouldn’t make the first-round roster. I didn’t know what goes on.”
Duensing pitched one inning of relief on Sunday and is 5-2 with a 3.64 ERA. But as a starter, he is a very good 5-1 with a 2.73 ERA.
The Twins used eight pitchers to finally subdue the Tigers on Tuesday, so they need Duensing to go at least 6-7 innings. And I will be shocked if the Yankees give Joe Mauer anything to hit in this series. The Minnesota catcher finished the season with a major league-leading .365 average, becoming the first catcher to win three batting titles and the first back-to-back champion since Boston’s Nomar Garciaparra in 1999-2000. He is far and away the biggest threat at the plate – the Tigers pitched around him as much as possible on Tuesday night.
To get back to the Metrodome with any chance of winning this series, the Twins will have to at least split the two games in the Bronx, where they are 2-23 since Ron Gardenhire took over for Tom Kelly as manager prior to the 2002 season. But Minnesota was 46-35 on the road this season, the second best in the majors behind the Angels and Phillies.
Perhaps the Twins can steal the opener on adrenaline and because of Sabathia’s previous playoff history: The big lefty is 2-3 with a 7.92 ERA in five career postseason starts, having posted a 10.93 ERA in losing the last three.
The Twins and Yankees have played twice in the playoffs, with New York winning both in four games.
MLB Betting at WagerWeb.com
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