Tom Froemming

Great line of thinking here. I embrace tinkering with new ideas, but the opener (at least the way the Twins have tried it so far) isn't really doing it for me. Your point above is another strike against it. I definitely see the value in trying to avoid overexposure of your starter/primary pitcher, but this doesn't seem to be the way to accomplish that goal.

What a high the Twins were on. They beat up on the Yankees 10-5 Tuesday night thanks to a Joe Mauer grand slam, then bested them again Wednesday night 3-1 behind a near no-hit effort from Jake Oddorizzi in what may have been their best-played game all season. Heading to Kansas City was going to be a piece of cake, right? Wrong. Let’s just say this one will not be mentioned among their better performances of the season.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Home Runs: Cave (11) Multi-Hit Games: Cave (2-for-4, HR) WPA of 0.1 or higher: Moya .104 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Busenitz -.437 Download attachment: WinChart913.png The Twins went with the opener/primary picher strategy again today. Any time they roll that out I like to give an overview on how everything worked its way out from the top down. Gabriel Moya was the opener. He pitched well, but was pretty inefficient. He threw two scoreless, no-hit innings and had a strikeout and a walk. The main problem was it took him 38 pitches to do so. With the expanded rosters that’s no big deal, but if the Twins were to test this during any of the other five months, that kind of an outing from a reliever would not be ideal. Stephen Gonsalves followed as the primary pitcher. The good news: He pitched three no-hit innings and didn’t give up an earned run. The bad news: He walked four batters, which helped the Royals to score an unearned run thanks to a Jorge Polanco error. Gonsalves threw 69 pitches. Alan Busenitz took over in the sixth. He gave up a double, then back-to-back home runs. Ouch. He threw 16 pitches, gave up three runs and failed to record an out. Matt Magill took over, but couldn’t get through the inning either. Magill gave up a run on a pair of hits and a walk. He got two outs and threw 21 pitches. Andrew Vasquez took over and hit the first batter he faced, but the finally recorded the final out of the sixth. He threw 10 pitches. Tally all that up and you get five pitchers combining for six innings, needing 154 pitches to do so. Not good. Things settled back down from there, as John Curtiss pitched a scoreless seventh and Oliver Drake covered the eight, giving up an unearned run. An error was charged on Chris Gimenez’s throw to second base on a steal attempt, but it really should have been Polanco’s second error of the game. He whiffed on the catch, the ball just sailed right on by him. The Twins held a 2-0 lead early thanks to a Jake Cave two-run homer in the second inning. They added two more runs in the eighth on an Eddie Rosario RBI single and a sacrifice fly by Robbie Grossman. That pulled them to within a run of KC, but the Royals added that insurance run in the bottom of the eighth and took care of business in the ninth. Next Three Games Fri at KC, 7:15 pm CT: Jose Berrios vs. Jorge Lopez Sat at KC, 6:15 pm CT: Chase De Jong vs. Ian Kennedy Sun at KC, 1:15 pm CT: Kyle Gibson vs. Jakob Junis Last Three Games MIN 3, NYY 1: Odorizzi Carries No-No Into 8th Inning MIN 10, NYY 5: Joe Mauer Grand Slam Highlights Big Night for Bats NYY 7, MIN 2: It Was Close, Until It Wasn’t Click here to view the article

Jake Odorizzi provided both some excitement and some drama Wednesday night, taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning with an escalating pitch count. The bullpen started warming up in the sixth inning, but Paul Molitor allowed Odorizzi to see it through until the no-hit bid was no more. A solid double off the bat of Greg Bird broke it up with one out in the eighth.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Odorizzi: 78 Game Score, 7.1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 57.5% strikes (69 of 120 pitches) Home Runs: None Multi-Hit Games: Mauer (2-for-4), Kepler (2-for-3, 2B) WPA of 0.1 or higher: Odorizzi .377, Adrianza .151, Hildenberger .126 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Polanco -.163 Download attachment: WinChart912.png This was the first time all season Odorizzi recorded an out in the eighth inning, and he set a new season high for pitches in a start with 120. The only real big difference for him tonight was he threw his four-seam fastball a bit less often than usual. He typically deploys that pitch 54.6 percent of the time, but per Baseball Savant only went to it 51 times (42.5 percent). As is typically the case in any no-hit bid, there were some great defensive plays, including one from Odorizzi himself. Logan Forsythe and Robbie Grossman also made web gems while the no-no was intact and Max Kepler made an outstanding catch in the ninth. Luis Severino was looking really good himself tonight, holding the Twins to one hit through the first five innings, but the Twins finally broke through in the sixth inning. Max Kepler hit a one-out single and came around to score on an Ehire Adrianza double. The Twins added two runs off David Robertson in the seventh thanks to a hustle double from Jake Cave, a seeing-eye RBI single from Willians Astudillo and an RBI double from Max Kepler. La Tortuga hauling Astudillo scoring all the way from first made for one of the most fun moments of the entire season. Next Three Games Thu at KC, 7:15 pm CT: Stephen Gonsalves vs. Heath Fillmyer Fri at KC, 7:15 pm CT: Jose Berrios vs. Jorge Lopez Sat at KC, 6:15 pm CT: Chase De Jong vs. Ian Kennedy Last Three Games MIN 10, NYY 5: Joe Mauer Grand Slam Highlights Big Night for Bats NYY 7, MIN 2: It Was Close, Until It Wasn’t MIN 3, KC 1: Walk-Off Willians Click here to view the article

Oh, we’re gonna do another one of these game recaps? Really? Aren’t the Twins, like, waaaay out of it and playing terribly anyway? Alright, here we go I guess. Well, let’s see, what happened tonight … OMG JOE MAUER HIT A GRAND SLAM AND THE TWINS CRUSHED THE YANKEES!!!!! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!Download attachment: WinChart911.png (chart via FanGraphs) Let’s just get right to the granny, shall we? Next Three Games Wed vs. NYY, 7:10 pm CT: Jake Odorizzi vs. Luis Severino Thu at KC, 7:15 pm CT: TBD Fri at KC, 7:15 pm CT: TBD Last Three Games NYY 7, MIN 2: It Was Close, Until It Wasn’t MIN 3, KC 1: Walk-Off Willians KC 4, MIN 1: Good, Great, GRAND, WONDERFUL! Click here to view the article

There are 10 teams in the Appy League. The Twins ranked fifth at 5.68 runs per game and were third with a .776 OPS. The Kingsport Mets paced the circuit with 6.44 runs per game and the Princeton Rays had an .824 OPS as a team.

Something to sweeten all these numbers from the Elizabethton pitchers: The Appy League is a good place to hit. Teams score an average of 5.44 runs per game and the league average slash line is .262/.350/.396 (.746). Andrew Cabezas held opponents to a .180/.263/.263 (.527) line. The GCL swings the other direction, as the averages there are 4.67 runs per game and a .251/.334/.358 (.692) slash. Anyway, congrats to all the guys who were considered, great performances all around. As rdehring mentioned, Anthony Escobar deserves some attention as well. We don't cover the DSL, so we was not eligible, but the Venezuelan right-hander pitched to a 1.10 ERA, 0.75 WHIP and had a 3.79 K:BB ratio over 57 1/3 innings for the DSL Twins. He just turned 18 last month.

We saw plenty of flashes of how good Kyle Gibson could be coming into this year, but the end result was still a grand total of 127 starts and a 4.70 ERA. Of course, the year he finally puts it all together, so many of his teammates experience a similar backslide that Gibson was once known for. Gibby had another strong start tonight, but the bats and bullpen squandered any hope of victory.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Gibson: 54 Game Score, 5.2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, 53.4% strikes (63 of 118 pitches) Home Runs: None Multi-Hit Games: Polanco (2-for-4), Forsythe (2-for-4), Grossman (2-for-4, 2B) WPA of 0.1 or higher: Gibson .169 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Astudillo .103, Busenitz -.268 Download attachment: WinChart910.png After holding the Yankees to one run over 5 2/3 innings, Gibson’s ERA is down to 3.67 this season. He gave up four hits, walked four and struck out five. The only run he surrendered was a solo homer by Gary Sanchez in the sixth inning. Gibby exited and the game went haywire. Alan Busenitz walked the first two batters of the seventh inning and the Yankees wound up scoring six runs on five hits and four walks just in that frame alone. It seemed to be the half inning of eternity. None of the pitching mattered a whole lot anyway because the Twins couldn’t score. New York had already built a 7-0 lead by the time the Twins finally scratched across a pair of runs in the eighth inning. The Twins have been averaging just 3.90 runs per game since the Eduardo Escobar trade. You’re not going to win many games in the American League with an offense like that. Robbie Grossman was 2-for-4 with an RBI double. Logan Forsythe and Jorge Polanco also collected a pair of hits each. Polanco committed his 11th error in just his 58th game at shortstop this season. Next Three Games Tue vs. NYY, 7:10 pm CT: TBD vs. Sonny Gray Wed vs. NYY, 7:10 pm CT: Jake Odorizzi vs. Luis Severino Thu at KC, 7:15 pm CT: TBD Last Three Games MIN 3, KC 1: Walk-Off Willians KC 4, MIN 1: Good, Great, GRAND, WONDERFUL! MIN 10, KC 6: It’s a Lot Easier to Beat Bad Teams Click here to view the article

Willians Astudillo’s magical season continued Sunday, as he destroyed a hanging slider with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning for a walk-off homer. He also helped guide a few young pitchers behind the plate, including Chase De Jong, who was making his Twins debut.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) De Jong: 59 Game Score, 4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, 56.2% strikes (41 of 73 pitches) Home Runs: Astudillo Multi-Hit Games: Astudillo (2-for-4, HR) WPA of 0.1 or higher: Astudillo .324, De Jong .225, Littell .137, Rogers .126 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Rosario -.106 Download attachment: WinChart99.png If you think about it, Astudillo isn't even really supposed to be here, which makes his success to this point all the more fun. The Twins catching duo was supposed to be Jason Castro and Mitch Garver, of course, but even after Castro went down Bobby Wilson came up. Even down in Rochester, the Twins were constantly cycling through other catchers. They brought in Cameron Rupp, who has 287 MLB starts behind the plate to his credit, and after Rupp departed they added Juan Graterol, who (unlike Astudillo) had some MLB time prior to this season. Astudillo's defensive flexibility has obviously made him an attractive piece, but it's still pretty remarkable the way things have turned out for him this season, and really over his career. The walk-off was Astudillo's 15th home run of the season (three with the Twins and 12 more with the Red Wings). He had 17 in 560 minor league games coming into this season. Next Three Games Mon vs. NYY, 7:10 pm CT: Kyle Gibson vs. TBD Tue vs. NYY, 7:10 pm CT: TBD Wed vs. NYY, 7:10 pm CT: Jake Odorizzi vs. TBD Last Three Games KC 4, MIN 1: Good, Great, GRAND, WONDERFUL! MIN 10, KC 6: It’s a Lot Easier to Beat Bad Teams HOU 9, MIN 1: The Astros Are Really Good At Baseball Click here to view the article

Along with the Vikings getting started tomorrow, the Gopher football team improved to 2-0 and the St. Paul Saints advanced to the American Association Championship Series tonight. At least the Twins still have a couple minor league affiliates fighting for a title. Speaking of which, check out tonight's Minor League Report for some more positive news out of Fort Myers.

The Fort Myers Miracle scored eight runs in the first inning Saturday night, the most runs they’ve scored in an inning all season, and won Game 2 of the Florida State League Championship Series in convincing fashion. Unfortunately, the Cedar Rapids Kernels dropped the first game of their Midwest League semifinal series. Keep reading for more details on what happened in these two postseason games from the Twins’ minor league system Saturday night.MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 12, Daytona 2 (Game 2 of the FSL Championship Series) Box Score W: Griffin Jax (6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K) HR: Royce Lewis Multi-hit games: Travis Blankenhorn (3-for-4, 2B, BB), Alex Kirilloff (2-for-5, 2B), Jose Miranda (2-for-5, 2B), Taylor Grzelakowski (2-for-5, 2B), Ryan Costello (2-for-4, BB) The Miracle lineup took all the suspense out of this one. They hung an eight-spot on the board in the first inning, followed that up with two more runs in the second and cruised to victory in Game 2 of the Florida State League Championship Series. Fort Myers had four runs and knocked out the opposing starting pitcher before they even recorded an out. Royce Lewis led things off by reaching on an error. He would come around to score. The Miracle batted around, and in his second at-bat of the inning Lewis hit a three-run homer. Griffin Jax set the tone in the top of the first by striking out the side, but he switched over into cruise control from there. He gave the Miracle 6 2/3 innings of two-run ball, giving up six hits while issuing just one walk. He finished with six strikeouts. Kevin Marnon took over from there and shut out the Tortugas over the final 2 1/3 innings. Marnon did exactly what you’d want from a pitcher in that situation. He threw 22 of his 29 pitches for strikes (75.9 percent). Lewis had the big blow, but this blowout was a great team effort. Five Miracle hitters had multi-hit games and Travis Blankenhorn reached safely in four of his five plate appearances. Fort Myers also combined to go 6-for-14 with runners in scoring position. Fort Myers now leads the series 2-0, meaning they’re just one victory away from winning the FSL title. Brusdar Graterol gets the start for the Miracle. KERNELS NUGGETS Peoria 5, Cedar Rapids 3 (Game 1 of the MWL Semifinals) Box Score SP: Bryan Sammons (6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: David Banuelos (3-for-4, 2 2B), Michael Helman (2-for-5) Bryan Sammons was outstanding and the Cedar Rapids lineup built an early lead, but Peoria just wouldn’t go away. Sammons held the Chiefs to two hits over six shutout innings and struck out six batters. He exited with the Kernels up 2-0. Zach Neff took over in the seventh and pitched a clean inning. He went back out for the eighth but things didn’t go so well, as Peoria scored three runs in the top of the eighth to go up 3-2. Cedar Rapids managed to tie the game up in the bottom of the inning, but the Chiefs responded with two more runs off Jose Martinez in the ninth. The Kernels had plenty of opportunities to score more runs, as they tallied 12 hits and drew five walks on the night. They left the bases loaded in both the first and third innings. The sixth ended with runners on second and third base. They got a lead-off walk from Gabriel Maciel in the eighth, but he made the first out of the inning at home plate, trying to score on a double. They left the bases loaded up again that inning. Tough way to lose a ballgame, tough way to open up a series. The Kernels now face elimination tomorrow night at Peoria. If they survive, a decisive Game 3 will be played at Peoria Monday. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Bryan Sammons, Cedar Rapids Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Travis Blankenhorn, Fort Myers TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed 1. Royce Lewis (FM): 1-for-5, HR, 3 RBI, 2 R 2. Alex Kirilloff (FM): 2-for-5, 2B, 2 R 6. Trevor Larnach (CR): 1-for-5, K 8. Akil Baddoo (CR): 0-for-2, 3 BB 13. Travis Blankenhorn (FM): 3-for-4, 2B, BB, 2 RBI, 3 R 18. Ryan Jeffers (CR): 1-for-5, RBI, 2 K 19. Jacob Pearson (CR): 1-for-1, RBI (as a pinch hitter) SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Fort Myers at Daytona, 4:35 pm CT: Brusdar Graterol Cedar Rapids at Peoria, 4:00 pm CT: Blayne Enlow Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article

The day before the Vikings start their regular season, the Twins went out and nearly gave up a perfect game to rookie Jorge Lopez and the Kansas City LOLoyals, excuse me, Royals. It’s almost as if the Twins are trying to fade into oblivion. They might as well hang up a sign outside of Target Field that says “Nope, nothing to see here.”Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Berrios: 68 Game Score, 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 5 K, 2 BB, 62.8% strikes (59 of 94 pitches) Home Runs: I don’t wanna talk about it, OK? Multi-Hit Games: EVERYTHING IS FINE! WPA of 0.1 or higher: Berrios .197 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Mauer -.104, Duffey -.195 Download attachment: WinChart98.png Lopez, 25, had just six MLB starts heading into tonight. His longest MLB outing came just in his last start when he went seven innings. The last time he recorded an out in the eighth inning at any level was back on Aug. 25, 2016 when he was in Double A. The last time he completed eight innings was Aug. 1, 2015, again at the Double A level. In 197 career games as a professional, Lopez had never recorded an out in the ninth inning. Never ever, at any level. He still hasn’t, thank goodness. Lopez carried a perfect game into the ninth inning, but walked Max Kepler to open the final frame. That was followed by a single up the middle from Robbie Grossman to break up the no-hitter. Crisis averted, I guess. That was it for Lopez, but if tonight was any indication, we’ll be seeing quite a bit more of him over the next several years. The Royals’ defense deserves some recognition, as well. Lopez only struck out four batters, leaving a lot of outs to be made in the field. On the positive side, Jose Berrios went more than five innings for the first time in six starts. In his previous five outings, Berrios had given up 16 earned runs on 26 hits and 13 walks over 21 2/3 innings (6.65 ERA, 1.80 WHIP), so it was great to see Jose back on track Saturday evening. He gave up one run over six innings. Tyler Duffey was the first man out of the bullpen. He faced five batters and managed to give up three runs while recording two outs. Andrew Vasquez (0.2 IP), John Curtiss (0.2 IP) and Addison Reed (1.0 IP) shut out the Royals from there. The Twins even managed to score a run in the ninth inning on an Ehrie Adrianza sacrifice fly (yay!). If you’re still here, bless your heart. If you need to blow off some steam in the comments section go ahead and fire away, but remember: NO YELLING ON THE BUS!!! Next Three Games Sun vs. KC, 1:10 pm CT: TBD vs. Ian Kennedy Mon vs. NYY, 7:10 pm CT: TBD Tue vs. NYY, 7:10 pm CT: TBD Last Three Games MIN 10, KC 6: It’s a Lot Easier to Beat Bad Teams HOU 9, MIN 1: The Astros Are Really Good At Baseball HOU 5, MIN 2: Rough Opener, Strong Stewart Homecoming Click here to view the article

The competitive balance in the American League is as uneven as it’s been in quite some time, and the Twins are getting to see both ends this week. Coming off of a rough series at Houston, the Twins got to come home and face Kansas City. The difference in wiggle room you have against those two classes of teams is staggering. The Twins ended up coming back from a 6-2 deficit to win 10-6 Friday evening.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Starting Pitcher: Game Score, IP, H, ER, K, BB, % strikes Home Runs: Rosario (23) Multi-Hit Games: Adrianza (3-for-4), Polanco (2-for-5), Rosario (2-for-5, HR), Cave (2-for-5, 2B) WPA of 0.1 or higher: Cave .240, Adrianza .232, Forsythe .192, May .120 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Busenitz -.156, Gonsalves -.272 Download attachment: WinChart97.png Considering how many guys there are who have been banged up the past few days, one of the most interesting things to follow right now with the Twins is just who’s in and who’s out of the lineup. Here’s how Paul Molitor filled things out for tonight’s tilt: Eddie Rosario made his first appearance since Aug. 30 while Miguel Sano (knee) and Tyler Austin (back) remained on the shelf. With how short Stephen Gonsalves’ outings have been, it’s hard to know if the Twins are trying to use him as a traditional starter or just as an opener. He lasted just 2 1/3 innings tonight, and has failed to complete four frames in three of his four MLB starts. Gonsalves exited with the Twins trailing 3-2, but Alan Busenitz allowed two inherited runners to score plus one of his own, giving the Royals a six-run inning. Their lead did not last long. The Twins stormed back to tally four runs of their own in the bottom of the third to tie the game at 6-6. From there, the bullpen was outstanding. Trevor May pitched two scoreless innings while Gabriel Moya, Matt Magill, Taylor Rogers and Trevor Hildenberger each delivered a clean frame as the pen. The bats had one more big inning in them, as the Twins tallied three more runs in the fifth, then added an insurance run in the eighth. The lineup combined for 10 runs on 12 hits, just two of which went for extra bases (a Jake Cave double and an Eddie Rosario home run). They added seven walks, three coming from Robbie Grossman, and were an impressive 7-for-14 with runners in scoring position. Next Three Games Sat vs. KC, 6:10 pm CT: Jose Berrios vs. Jorge Lopez Sun vs. KC, 1:10 pm CT: TBD Mon vs. NYY, 7:10 pm CT: TBD Last Three Games HOU 9, MIN 1: The Astros Are Really Good At Baseball HOU 5, MIN 2: Rough Opener, Strong Stewart Homecoming HOU 4, MIN 1: Astros Take Advantage of Pivotal Polanco Error Click here to view the article

Randy Dobnak and the Cedar Rapids Kernels bounced Beloit from the postseason after Dobnak delivered seven shutout innings. The Fort Myers Miracle won Game 1 of the FSL Championship Series thanks to some impressive pitching of their own and a powerful performance from Jose Miranda. Check out what else happened in the minor league playoffs Friday night.MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 3, Daytona 1 Box Score W: Charlie Barnes (6.2 IP, 7 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K) SV: Jovani Moran (2.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K) HR: Jose Miranda Multi-hit games: Travis Blankenhorn (3-for-3), Jose Miranda (2-for-4, 2B, HR) Game 1 of the Florida State League Championship Series opened up as a pitcher’s duel. Charlie Barnes of Fort Myers and Packy Naughton of Daytona each wiggled out of early jams, Barnes being the beneficiary of some great defense. Daytona opened the third inning with consecutive singles and loaded the bases with one out. A potential sacrifice fly was hit out to Aaron Whitefield in center, but he turned it into an inning-ending double play instead, throwing out the runner trying to score. This game was tied at 0-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth. Naughton retired the first two hitters he faced, but Alex Kirilloff hit a single to extend the inning and Jose Miranda delivered a huge two-run homer. The Miracle added an insurance run in the seventh, as Caleb Hamilton hit a leadoff single, stole second base with two outs and came around to score on a Travis Blankenhorn single. Things got way too interesting in the top half of the eighth inning. With Jovani Moran pitching, the Tortugas’ leadoff batter reached safely on a strike three passed ball. Moran hit the next batter, then gave up an RBI single. The Miracle finally got the first out of the inning on a pop out, but then Moran walked the bases loaded. Luckily, he got things straightened out and struck out the next two batters swinging. Heading into the ninth up 3-1, Ryan Costello committed an error to put the leadoff man on, but Moran buckled down again and struck out the next three batters, all swinging. Game 2 of this series takes place tomorrow evening. Griffin Jax will start for the Miracle. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 4, Beloit 0 (7 innings) Box Score W: Randy Dobnak (7.0 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K) Multi-hit games: Akil Baddoo (3-for-4, 2B) There’s nothing better than a dominant outing by a starting pitcher in postseason play. Randy Dobnak surely had the Snappers feeling helpless, as he shut them out for the full seven innings of this game. Dobnak gave up just six hits and a walk and struck out eight. He was effectively aggressive, throwing 72 of his 92 pitches for strikes (78.3 percent). Akil Baddoo was rock solid for Cedar Rapids at the plate. He hit a leadoff double in the first, but was eventually stranded there. In the second, he got the Kernels on the board with a two-out RBI single. He added another single in the middle of what was a two-run fourth inning for Cedar Rapids. This game was only scheduled for seven innings because if the Kernels would have lost, a third and deciding game would have been played later in the evening on Friday. With a victory in Game 2 of their series against Beloit, the Kernels advance to the Midwest League Western Division Championship, and will host Peoria tomorrow night. Bryan Sammons will be on the mound for Cedar Rapids. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Randy Dobnak, Cedar Rapids Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Jose Miranda, Fort Myers TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed 1. Royce Lewis (FM): 1-for-4 2. Alex Kirilloff (FM): 1-for-4, R 6. Trevor Larnach (CR): 1-for-2, BB, RBI, K 8. Akil Baddoo (CR): 3-for-4, 2B, RBI, R, K 13. Travis Blankenhorn (FM): 3-for-3, RBI 18. Ryan Jeffers (CR): 0-for-3 SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Fort Myers vs. Daytona, 6:00 pm CT: Griffin Jax (Game 2 of series, Miracle up 1-0) Cedar Rapids vs. Peoria, 6:35 pm CT: Bryan Sammons (Game 1 of series) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article

As we head into the final month of baseball’s regular season, Twins fans are stuck looking for September call-ups to get excited about as opposed to a postseason run. Still, we’re all baseball fans here, and come October I know I’m going to be watching a lot of the games despite the hometown nine being out of it. I thought it’d be a good time to run through the current standings and take a look at not only the playoff picture, but also speculate on which teams may be best suited for a World Series run.Before we get into the Fall Classic, let's take a look around at the odds teams actually make the postseason in the first place. Below are MLB.com's odds to make postseason. (All odds listed are as of the end of August.) AMERICAN LEAGUE Boston Red Sox 100% Cleveland Indians 100% Houston Astros 99.9% New York Yankees 99.9% Oakland Athletics 85.7% Seattle Mariners 14.2% NATIONAL LEAGUE Chicago Cubs 99.6% Los Angeles Dodgers 74.2% St. Louis Cardinals 67.4% Atlanta Braves 66.7% Milwaukee Brewers 64.0% Arizona Diamondbacks 51.1% Philadelphia Phillies 40.1% Colorado Rockies 30.6% As you can see, quite a bit has already been all but decided in the AL in terms of who is likely to qualify for postseason play, but out in the West the Astros lead the Athletics by just 2.5 games.Things are a lot more wide open in the NL. How is it possible that the Diamondbacks lead their division but have barely over a 50/50 chance to be in the playoffs? More on that in just a second. Let's take a look at some World Series odds next. FanGraphs Odds to Win World Series Houston Astros 26.1% Boston Red Sox 16.2% Los Angeles Dodgers 13.9% Cleveland Indians 10.4% Chicago Cubs 10.3% New York Yankees 10.1% Arizona Diamondbacks 3.0% Oakland Athletics 1.8% Atlanta Braves 1.7% Milwaukee Brewers 1.7% St. Louis Cardinals 1.5% Philadelphia Phillies 1.5% Colorado Rockies 1.1% FanGraphs has the Astros as a clear favorite to repeat as World Series champions, but another nerdy baseball site has a much different view on things ... Baseball Prospectus Odds to Win World Series Boston Red Sox 14.7% Chicago Cubs 14.4% Cleveland Indians 13.2% Atlanta Braves 12.0% Houston Astros 10.7% New York Yankees 8.1% Los Angeles Dodgers 5.9% Arizona Diamondbacks 5.1% St. Louis Cardinals 4.9% Milwaukee Brewers 4.1% Oakland Athletics 2.1% Philadelphia Phillies 2.1% Colorado Rockies 1.6% Houston is way down at fifth, but the biggest split between FanGraphs and Baseball Pro is with Atlanta. FanGraphs has them at just 1.7%, ninth overall, while B-Pro has them at 12.0%, fourth overall. And how about the sportsbooks? When browsing all the lines at various online sportsbooks, it’s clear the Red Sox are the clear favorite, followed by the Astros and then things are pretty tight between the Yankees, Cubs and Cleveland. Another fun resource in staying up to date on the playoff races is ESPN’s Hunt For October page. One of the things I find interesting is the average win percentage of remaining opponents is listed for each team. It looks like the Diamondbacks are going to have their work cut out for them. The Twins keep me plenty busy enough, so I don't have a whole lot of time to keep up with the rest of the league, but I'd have to agree with the sportsbooks and say Boston is my favorite. Really going out on a limb, I know. They've got the best record in baseball and their roster is cluttered with stars, both in the lineup and on the pitching staff. If I was to pick a dark horse, it would be Oakland (no offense to the NL). This A's team reminds me a lot of the recent Royals teams that did so well in the postseason. Their defense is tremendous and their bullpen is as deep as it is nasty. Kansas City showed that formula can really work in October. Who's your pick as the favorite and your dark horse? Click here to view the article

It's not, but that's a really interesting idea. Maybe I'll try and make that happen next season.