The postseason race is heating up, and I’m here for it. I tend to think that baseball has the best postseason races. I’m not sure that I have a great justification for it, but I’ll share my reasoning anyway. The NFL tends to have too many spots locked up too soon. The NBA has too many spots in general, and with essentially 20 teams getting some sort of playoff shot, it’s just not interesting. The NHL has a pretty decent race, but the postseason itself for the NHL is more entertaining. With baseball, the trade deadline gets a flurry of moves, and then we see the race. No spot has been locked up yet, but we have a general idea of those with a true chance and those without.
The Chicago White Sox may actually pull this off. They are 70-63 for the season, and currently own a 2.5-game lead in the American League Central. However, the vast majority of their success has come at home. They are 29-36 on the road, and maybe that is just a sign of a young team. If you’re a pessimistic Sox fan, you look at their road record and the fact that Cleveland is always lurking, and you can’t be comfortable. However, the optimist says they are in control of their destiny and playing with house money this season, regardless of what happens.
They made their biggest splash in years by acquiring today’s starter, Luis Castillo. It is hard to blame them for a lack of moves when the team was a disaster for the past few years, so it was nice to see them adding instead of subtracting. Castillo is having a rough year, though. For the season, he is 4-10 with a 5.19 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP. Since coming over from Seattle, he has allowed 12 earned runs in 18.1 innings. He does have a good track record against the Twins, though. He has allowed them to hit just .228 against him in 123 at-bats.
The Minnesota Twins were one of those borderline teams at the deadline. You could’ve made a case to abandon the season and tell them to look to next year. However, they were in a position where they could also make a run at the division. They ultimately held onto their key pieces despite a lot of interest. The team hasn’t been able to find their footing, though, and are now 6.5 games back in the division, and they are 64-70 at the moment. I suppose a series sweep here could go a long way if they want a true shot at the postseason.
Twins Promote Top-15 MLB Prospect OF Walker Jenkins To Make Debut vs. White Sox
The Twins did make some moves at the deadline, even if they didn’t trade away the guys others wanted. They acquired today’s starter, Dean Kremer, from the Orioles. For the year, Kremer is just 2-4 with a 5.22 ERA, but he has a strong 1.18 WHIP. Part of the issue is that he has allowed 14 homers in 58.2 innings. So he isn’t allowing a ton of baserunners, but when people are hitting him, they are hitting him hard. Almost 30% of the hits he has allowed have left the yard. Sox hitters are batting just .205 against him in 39 at-bats.
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I’m really not sure how a team can trust either of these guys right now. However, I have more faith in Kremer than I do Castillo. Essentially, it boils down to the traffic on the basepaths. Kremer allows fewer guys on the bases than Castillo, so I think he gives the Twins a better chance to win games. Give me the Twins tonight as they start this series with the White Sox.
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