Twins vs White Sox (4/10-4/12): First at Home Division Series Preview!

The Twins had an outstanding home opener and series win against the World Series Champions Houston Astros. The Twins pitching, specifically Sonny Gray, boosted the confidence of all the fans in this home series by commanding the mound and giving life to the game to carry the team through. The White Sox come to town tomorrow, the first divisional series of the season, and while the series against Houston showed how capable the Twins can be, divisional play is a whole new ball game.

The Twins (barely) won the season series last season with the White Sox winning 10-of-19 games. The Twins and White Sox have always had a contentious relationship, mainly because the two teams volley for divisional position throughout most seasons. This can create a lot of tension and high emotion, especially recently after the White Sox passed the Twins in September, only to also concede the division race to the Guardians.

The White Sox are 4-6, and 3-4 on the road. They also enter the series with relatively hot bats after facing the Pirates. They scored 20 runs in the first two games of that series, but were shutout in the season finale.  

Fun Fact: The first time the Twins and White Sox competeed for a title was 1965 when the teams finished first and second, respectively, in the American League. In 1969, the league underwent realignment and both franchises were placed in the AL West. The apex of this rivalry came in 2008 when, after 162 games, the two franchises both finished with 88–74 records tied atop the AL Central, Game 163 was needed to break the tie.. The White Sox won the game 1–0 due to a 7th-inning solo home run from Jim Thome, who later played for Minnesota. 

Weather Factor: The bats aren’t the only thing hoping to heat up in Minnesota. Monday and Tuesday’s games there will be a little cloud cover during the day, but still perfect baseball weather, with the best day being Wednesday with the potential for 81 degrees at game time.  Beautiful clear weather, low winds, and the rain staying away should make for perfect playing conditions.

Pitching Probables
Game 1 – Monday, April 10th, 2023 – 1:10pm CDT – Right-handers Kenta Maeda (Twins) and Dylan Cease (White Sox) will square off in the opener. Cease, undoubtedly the best pitcher for the White Sox, will be coming in with one win and a 1.59 ERA. Maeda, who had a no-decision in his return to the Twins rotation, had a 1.80 ERA and an outstanding 0.60 WHIP with nine strikeouts in his first outing.

Game 2 – Tuesday, April 11th, 2023 – 6:40pm CDT – Right-handers Pablo Lopez (Twins) and Lance Lynn (White Sox) take the mound in an evening game where the temperature is expected to be sitting in the low 60’s with clear skies and low winds. Lopez has been a bright spot in the Twins rotation and brings a 1-0 start and a 0.73 ERA and matching 0.73 WHIP into the matchup. Lynn has struggled in his first two starts of the season, giving up 10 runs in 10 innings, but the 35-year-old posted a 3.82 ERA last year.

This will be the first time Lopez will have every faced the White Sox. The Twins will catch a break in that the White Sox designated hitter Eloy Jimenez will miss the series with a strained hamstring. However, that just means that Yoan Moncada has been moved up a spot into the cleanup position. He’s hitting .308 with an 889 OPS.

Game 3 - Wednesday, April 12th, 2023 – 12:10pm CDT - Right-hander Sonny Gray (Twins) faces off with yet another right-hander, Lucas Giolito (White Sox). Gray comes in at 1-0 with a 0.75 ERA after defeating Houston with his career-high 13 K’s in his last game, while Giolito has two no-decisions against the Astros and Pirates in his first two games, allowing nine runs over nine innings.

The Twins hitters are no strangers to Giolito. They split with him last year, but the Twins offense had just a 574 OPS against him in those four games. They’ll also be missing several of their better left-handed (Max Kepler and Joey Gallo) and switch-hitting (Jorge Polanco) batters versus the right-hander.

Prediction Time!
What's your prediction for this series? Get out the brooms, or something in between? Who do you think can catch fire in the Twins line-up? Will the Twins starters continue their dominant ways? Let's go Twins Territory!