Big pressure on the Twins to stay on top of AL Central this week
It's becoming increasingly likely that the AL Central isn't going to be decided until the final days of the regular season, and with the first-place Twins set to square off with the Dodgers in Los Angeles for a pair of games, the pressure to stay in front is increasing.
The Dodgers lead the majors with 75 wins, having won eight in a row, 15 of 18 since the All-Star break, and an incredible 30-5 since June 29. Repeat: 30 wins and only five losses since the end of June. That's nuts.
Meanwhile, the Twins are 7-7 since the All-Star break and 14-16 since June 29.
Worse is that Minnesota is 30-35 since May 25.
It's only a two-game series, but it screams trouble for a Twins team that was robbed of what would've been a huge win Sunday when replay officials in New York ruled that Gary Sanchez illegally blocked home plate. That wound up being the winning run in the 10th inning, leading to manager Rocco Baldelli's viral "chickenshit" rant.
Minnesota leads the Cleveland Guardians by one game and the Chicago White Sox sit just two games back. Did we mention the Guardians are sending three studs – Shane Bieber, Aaron Civale and Zach Plesac – to the mound against the lowly Detroit Tigers this week?
Cleveland has to be licking their chops knowing Minnesota is quivering in the lion's den while they get to feast on baseball's equivalent of road kill.
Meanwhile, the White Sox get to play the Royals and Tigers for a combined seven games this week. They, too, must be salivating at the chance to finally pass the Twins.
There are still 54 games left on Minnesota's schedule, and they just upgraded their bullpen and starting staff at the trade deadline, so by no means is it time to panic. But the comfortable position of leading versus chasing a division could be coming to an end, unless the Twins can find a way to beat the best in their home ballpark.
Game 1 of the two-game set with the Dodgers is Tuesday at 9:10 p.m. After the quick series at Dodger Stadium, the Twins stay in the L.A. area for a three-game series against the Angels.
All of this, oh by the way, precedes a gauntlet Aug. 23 through Sept. 11 when the Twins face the Astros, Giants, Red Sox, White Sox, Yankees and Guardians all in a row.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.