Fastball

Minnesota Twins Set Top Two Starters For Playoff Rotation

The Minnesota Twins will go with Pablo Lopez and Sonny Gray in the first two games of their looming playoff series.

Brady Farkas

Minnesota Twins Set Top Two Starters For Playoff Rotation
Minnesota Twins Set Top Two Starters For Playoff Rotation /
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The Minnesota Twins don't know who they'll play yet in the major league playoffs, but they do know who will start the first two games for them on the mound.

Per Bobby Nightengale Jr., who covers the team:

Rocco Baldelli confirmed Pablo López and Sonny Gray will start the first two playoff games for the Twins. Everything afterward is TBD.

At 83-73, the Twins are very likely to finish with the No. 3 seed in the playoffs. While that's not official, it is the most likely outcome and would mean that the Twins have to play in the wild card round. That is a best-of-three series in which the Twins would host all three games at Target Field.

Their opponent would be the third-wild card team out of the American League. That's currently the Houston Astros but it could end up being the Toronto Blue Jays or Seattle Mariners, too.

Lopez, who was acquired from the Miami Marlins in a trade this offseason, is 11-8 with a 3.61 ERA. One of the top strikeout artists in the game, he's fanned 228 batters in 189.2 innings.

As for Gray, he's 8-8 this season with a 2.80 ERA. He's in his 11th year in the big leagues with the A's, Yankees, Reds and Twins.

The Twins haven't decided a potential Game 3 starter yet, but that could fall on Joe Ryan. The right-hander struck out 10 batters on Sunday in a 9-3 win over the Angels. He's 11-10 with a 4.31 ERA.

The Twins are off on Monday but will play the Athletics on Tuesday night at 7:40 p.m. ET.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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