Otto von Ballpark

Lance Lynn sporting a quarantine beard in the HOU-TEX game.

Hicks scores the first run of the game for the Yankees! Now 4-1, tying run at the plate, but 2 outs in the 8th

Hopefully our rooting energy this week hasn’t made Cleveland into some kind of unstoppable force!

Sox lose. Fortune is favoring the Twins this week — we get two 1 run wins over Detroit, while the White Sox lose 2 walk offs and a 1-run game.

Hand trying to fan McCann...

Let’s see if Jose Abreu has an answer to the Jose Ramirez MVP talk... Edit: ...he did not.

Hand fan. Cheering for Hand to fan a man.

Ryu, 7 shutout innings vs the Yankees. He should give them a fighting chance in game 1 whoever they draw in the playoffs.

Worth noting this White Sox tailspin started with losing 2 of 3 to the Reds. Will be interesting if they challenge the Twins this weekend too.

Toronto adds 2 more on an RBI hit from catcher Alejandro Kirk, who spent last year in A-ball. Up 4-0 after 6.

I have to say, the White Sox TV announcers are taking this all pretty graciously.

The lack of an off day really hurt the White Sox here. I don’t think the use Rodon there unless the pen is gassed.

Rain is always an option! Or a leak for dome, I suppose. A rainout today would probably have to be made up on Monday and eat up their only day off before the playoffs begin.

Maybe Jonathan Villar's dad was a MLB infielder and he just doesn't know it yet, like Richard Dotson: https://theathletic.com/2056094/2020/09/11/there-might-be-a-family-secret-richard-dotsons-real-life-fable/

Just saw a blue jay outside, good omen?

Ground rule double ties the score, and brings Ramirez up with 2 in scoring position (and a base open).

Double and a walk, 2 on and 2 out for Cleveland in the third, Jose Ramirez on deck...

Yolmer Sanchez HR starts the Twins relevant scoring, White Sox up 1-0 in the 3rd.

Please pardon me for this highly unusual thread, but we live in highly unusual times... Fire up your MLB.TV machines and join me for this game thread on a Twins off day: a scoreboard watching game thread! The browser version of MLB.TV can play up to 4 games at once, as can the Apple TV version. You can block ads on the browser version too. If you don't have those devices, I think you can sign in to watch on up to 4 different devices at once. Hit me up with any other MLB.TV questions! Directly relevant to the Twins tonight: 5:10 PM CDT (I am loving these early start times!) White Sox (Keuchel) at Cleveland (Plesac) Needs no introduction here -- 1st and 2nd place in the division on the line. 5:37 PM CDT Yankees (Montgomery) at Toronto (Ryu) at Buffalo Much ballyhooed potential wild card opponent, with home field still to be determined. Playoff relevant: 2:45 PM CDT (on now!) Rockies at Giants Giants are a wild card competitor for our weekend opponent, the Cincinnati Reds. 6:10 PM CDT Marlins (Lopez) at Braves (Anderson) Who are these Marlins? Another competitor for our weekend Reds. 7:15 PM CDT Brewers (Burnes) at Cardinals (Kim) Our neighbors to the east! Also still more Reds competition -- there are still 6 teams fighting neck-and-neck for just 4 remaining wild card spots in the NL. Bonus playoff relevance for you night-owls: 8:40 PM CDT (I may not stay up this late ) Athletics (Fiers) at Dodgers (Buehler) The A's are in a virtual tie with the Twins for the 2nd seed among AL division winners. A's win makes it more likely the central division champ would play the 6th seed (Astros currently) in the first round; A's lose, more likely the central champ faces 7th seed (Cleveland right now).

I don't know about "good possibility" -- Toronto is very likely to be the 8th seed, as they are 3 games behind #7 Cleveland with just 4 to play. Cleveland's magic number over Toronto is down to just 2. Toronto does have the benefit of playing the Orioles for the final 3 games but Cleveland gets to face Pittsburgh. Similarly, the Twins are 2 games back of Tampa Bay for the #1 seed, with only 3 to play. Tampa also has the tiebreak over the Twins and White Sox, so basically Tampa Bay's magic number for the #1 seed over both teams is down to 1. Yeah, familiarity would be a benefit vs Cleveland or Chicago too (but that could also work against the Twins pitchers).

Not *all* of the games -- the first "wild card" round will be at the home ballpark of the #1-4 seeds. So home field could be pretty important for that round! (After that round, the higher seed will get to bat last more often in the bubble games, which could be a slight advantage too.) Not quite. We are even with the White Sox in the loss column at 22, and the White Sox hold the two-way tiebreaker over us, so they can still control their own destiny -- if the White Sox win out, it doesn't matter what the Twins or Cleveland does, Chicago will win the division. Similarly, if the White Sox go 3-1 and the Twins finish 2-1, Chicago will also win the division. Cleveland (24 losses) could come into play if the Twins or White Sox lose 2 or more of their remaining games.

Ah, good catch! I was in the mode of calculating how to pass teams, not stay behind them.

This is good info, but beyond overwork, could exposure also be an issue? In a shortened season with a division-heavy schedule, these Detroit batters have seen the same pitchers repeatedly in a short time frame. Good news is, that shouldn't affect our weekend series vs Cincinnati, and depending on who we draw for the first round of the playoffs, it might not be a factor there either.

We'd have to pass Oakland entirely, as Oakland will hold the tiebreaker against us (better divisional record), but it's possible. Magic number of 5 (any combination of Twins wins or Oakland losses to equal 5). Oakland has 1 more game with the Dodgers tonight, then 4 at home with Seattle including a doubleheader Saturday. The doubleheader should be a good opportunity for an Oakland loss, it can be hard to sweep.

Fangraphs now has Twins at 51.5% to win the division, White Sox at 46.2%. And you are correct, Yankees losing Thursday would be enough to secure home field over them, because the Yankees could then do no better than tie the Twins and the Twins would hold the divisional record tiebreaker. And yup, one more Twins win clinches at least 2nd in the central. (Although if we went 1-2, and Yankees win out 4-0, we could still be 5th seed.)