If the Minnesota Twins make the postseason as the AL Central champion but don’t have a better record than the winners of the AL East and AL West, they’ll enter the playoffs as the No. 3 overall seed.
Six teams make the playoffs: three division winners and three wild card teams. The top two seeds, likely the AL East and AL West winners this year, will receive a bye into the second round. The 3-6 seeds will be involved in best-of-three series’ in the first round, with the No. 3 seed, likely the Twins since the Guardians went full sell mode before Tuesday’s trade deadline, facing the third wild card team.
If the season ended today, this is how the AL would shape up.
- Baltimore Orioles – AL East champ
- Texas Rangers – AL West champ
- Minnesota Twins – AL Central champ
- Tampa Bay Rays – first wild card
- Houston Astros – second wild card
- Toronto Blue Jays – third wild card
That would set the stage for first round series between the Twins and Blue Jays.
But the situation is very delicate since the Red Sox are just 1.5 games behind the Blue Jays while the Yankees, Mariners and Angels are just 3.5 games back of Toronto. That means the Twins could wind up playing pretty much any team: Orioles, Rays, Blue Jays, Red Sox, Yankees, Rangers, Astros or Angels.
That said, the Rays are the top wild card and they’re six games clear of every other wild card contender, so the greater likelihood is Minnesota facing the Blue Jays, Red Sox, Yankees, Mariners or Angels.
Minnesota’s strength is its pitching staff, so how do the Twins’ top three starters compare to the projected top three starters of the five teams they seem most likely to face in the first round?
Take a look at these possible matchups. Which would you prefer?
Twins-Blue Jays
Twins-Red Sox
Twins-Yankees
Twins-Mariners
Twins-Angels
