Twins Notebook 7/24: Berríos Aims to Continue Dominance Over White Sox

TODAY

Twins at White Sox | Friday, July 24 7:10 pm CT

Betting Lines: MIN -1.5, -114, 8.5 O/U

Twins: José Berríos, RHP

Berríos is 11-2 with a 2.40 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 9.6 K/9 in 93 2/3 career innings against the White Sox. Players currently on Chicago’s roster have combined to hit just .237/.262/.429 (.691 OPS) against Berríos, with a bulk of the damage done by James McCann, who has four home runs in 24 plate appearances against José.

White Sox: Lucas Giolito, RHP

Giolito’s best start last season came at Target Field against the Twins. On Aug. 21, Giolito pitched a three-hit complete game shutout while striking out 12 batters without issuing a walk. On the flip side, Nelson Cruz hit three bombas off Giolito in Chicago nearly a year ago today.

Before the game, Seth asked the Twins manager about facing a talented starter like Lucas Giolito.

https://twitter.com/SethTweets/status/1286792545545191434

LINEUP

https://twitter.com/Twins/status/1286742175875825668

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Who do you think will hit the first Twins bomba of 2020?

YESTERDAY’S RESULTS

NYY 4, WAS 1

LAD 8, SFG 1

NEWS & NOTES

Byron Buxton did not travel down to Chicago with the team, but Dan Hayes of The Athletic reported that Buck is driving down today to meet the team. He’ll be on the Opening Day roster, so it seems likely we’ll see Buxton at some point over the weekend, if not tonight.

While the opening game was being played last night, Major League Baseball officially announced that the postseason was going to be expanded to 16 teams. The top two teams in each division will automatically qualify for the playoffs, with the final spots going to the remaining teams who have the best record, and each matchup in the first round will be a best of three series.

I really don’t like this. To me, a big thing keeping some validity for this season was they were still going to play the postseason as if they would have under normal circumstances. Sure, some weird teams may have slipped in with the 60-game season, but you still have to perform and beat the best of the best in a five or seven-game series once you get there.

This new setup both removes the potential thrill of a shorter, pressure-packed regular season and delegitimizes the playoffs. A single elimination game for the wild card was alright because it put more emphasis on winning the division. Reducing every first round matchup to a three-game series means there’s very little advantage gained by regular season success.

Higher seeds get home field advantage, whatever that means in 2020, and there’s been some talk of the division winners being able to pick their opponents, but I don’t see that being reported as official anywhere as of yet.

This new playoff format will be in place this season only. For now ...

SEE ALSO

Minnesota Twins Opening Day Roster

20 Twins Predictions for the 2020 Season

Swinging Sixty: Minnesota Twins 2020 Season Preview

The 2020 Preseason All-AL Central Team

Who Are the Twins Best 60 Game Sprinters?

Ranking Minnesota’s Top-5 Indispensable Players