Barring a monumental collapse by the Red Sox between now and Sunday, the Twins are destined for a date with the Yankees in a best-of-one Wild Card for the right to play the Indians or Astros in the best-of-five divisional round of the playoffs.
Ervin Santana is a lock to start against the Yankees on Tuesday. If the Twins win and choose not to break up the current order of the rotation, Kyle Gibson would be in line to start Game 1 of the ALDS next Thursday and Jose Berrios would take the ball for Friday’s Game 2.
Again, that’s only if the Twins don’t change the rotation.
Game 3 is where it would get interesting because it’s Bartolo Colon’s turn in the rotation, but TwinsBaseball.com’s Rhett Bollinger says Colon, who has a 9.64 ERA in September, probably won’t be added to Minnesota’s postseason roster. That leaves the Twins with Adalberto Mejia and Santana as Game 3 options, with Santana being the obvious choice.
Twins could choose to start Mejia over Berrios in Game 2
There’s no doubt that Twins Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey and General Manager Thad Levine love analytics, but do they trust the numbers enough to give Mejia the start in Game 2?
The splits suggest it’s not a bad idea because Mejia is better on the road than at home and Berrios is the opposite. Check out the home/road splits.
Again, the Twins, if they win the Wild Card game, will play the Indians or Astros. Here’s how each starter has fared against both teams this season.
Cleveland’s rotation for the postseason appears set with Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Trevor Bauer and Josh Tomlin, according to Cleveland.com.
Houston’s rotation will likely start with Justin Verlander and Dallas Kuechel, followed by two of these four guys: Charlie Morton, Collin McHugh, Lance McCullers, and Mike Fiers.
