10.3.17-Ervin Santana RHP (16-8) 3.28 ERA Vs. Luis Severino RHP (14-6) 2.98 ERA

The Twins At A Glance- The Twins are in the postseason for the first time since 2010. That was the sixth playoff appearance in nine years for the Twins then it took seven years to get back. The 2017 Minnesota Twins are not the most talented bunch of guys, but they’ve gotten the job done and won 85 games, which was enough for the last American League Wild-Card spot. This team has been counted out a number of times throughout the season, so don’t think they’ll get flustered by a trip to New York with the odds heavily stacked against them. Brian Dozier has a seven-game hitting streak, where he is hitting .519 during that stretch. Joe Mauer hit .343 in the month of September. The Twins have five guys on the 25-man Wild-Card roster with playoff experience (Belisle, Santana, Castro, Gimenez, and Mauer). Ervin Santana is (2-2) with a 5.56 ERA in eight playoff games with the Angels. Matt Belisle threw two scoreless innings for the Rockies in the 2009 NLDS. Jason Castro is 1-for-16 in playoff action. Chris Gimenez went 2-for-9 with Texas in the 2015 ALDS, but he was with the Indians for part of the World Series run last year. Joe Mauer has hit .286 in three different playoff series. The Twins left Miguel Sano off the Wild-Card roster because he had limited at-bats this weekend and was hurting after Sunday’s game. The Twins did pretty good without him, so don’t worry folks. Overall, I think the Twins offense is a better small ball team without him in the lineup. Eduardo Escobar takes better at-bats and the whole lineup grinds out at-bats better without Sano. The bullpen will be well-rested. It will be interested to see how Paul Molitor uses them throughout the game. Adalberto Mejia and Jose Berrios are gonna be the long guys out there. Buddy Boshers and Taylor Rogers are the lefty specialist for facing Greg Bird, Brett Gardner, or Jacoby Ellsbury.

The Yankees At A Glance- The Yankees come in with a (91-71) regular season, but they fell short by two games to the Boston Red Sox for the American League East. Now, they have a winner-take-all home game against the Twins. Since we last saw the Yankees, they went (6-4) to close out the season. Aaron Hicks made his way back and is on the Wild-Card roster as a fourth outfielder. He went 4-for-18 in his return. It’s interesting to not that CC Sabathia and Sonny Gray are on the Wild-Card roster. Masahiro Tanaka would start Game 1 of the ALDS should they get that far. Joe Girardi has lots of weapons in the bullpen. Aroldis Chapman will be the closer, but might get the last two innings. Dellin Betances has struggled with control this year. Adam Warren, David Robertson, Tommy Kahnle, and Chad Green form a pretty good rest of the ‘pen. It’ll be interesting to see how Chase Headley is used in the game. He has split DH duties with Matt Holiday and got some playing time at third and first. If he sits on the bench then he will likely pinch-hit if Greg Bird sees a lefty. 

What To Watch For- The Yankees went (4-2) against the Twins in 2017. The Twins won two out of three at Target Field then were swept by the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. This will be the fifth time in the last seven playoff appearances that the Twins will play the Yankees in the postseason. New York is (12-2) against Minnesota with four series wins in the ALDS. The two wins by the Twins were both in Game 1 and with a Santana as a starter. This will be a one-game series with a Santana as starter! Ervin Santana is (6-10) with a 5.66 ERA in 20 starts against the Yankees. He is (0-5) with a 6.43 ERA at the new Yankee Stadium. Greg Bird, Todd Frazier, and Matt Holiday each have two homers each off Ervin. Luis Severino has faced the Twins once, which was on September 20th. He gave up three runs in three innings in his second-shortest start of the year against the Twins. Eduardo Escobar has a home run off Aroldis Chapman. Brian Dozier has two homers off Sonny Gray. Joe Mauer is 9-for-46 (.196) against CC Sabathia. Maybe the Twins don’t have playoff experience, but they do have experience in the World Baseball Classic. Eddie Rosario hit .316 in the WBC with Puerto Rico and played all the way to the Championship Game. Kennys Vargas and Eddie Rosario have already played in two winner-take-all games in the WBC. Ervin Santana has pitched in a World Baseball Classic Game, the MLB All-Star Game, and now the American League Wild-Card. 

                      New York Yankees Wild-Card Roster

Pitchers:                                          Infielders:

Dellin Betances RHP                     Greg Bird 1B L/L

Aroldis Chapman LHP                  Starlin Castro 2B R/R

Sonny Gray RHP                          Didi Gregorius SS L/R

Chad Green RHP                         Todd Frazier 3B R/R

Tommy Kahnle RHP                    Chase Headley 3B S/R

David Robertson RHP                Ronald Torreyes IF R/R

CC Sabathia LHP                      Tyler Wade IF L/R

Luis Severino RHP                    Outfielders:

Chasen Shreve LHP                Brett Gardner LF L/L

Adam Warren RHP                  Jacoby Ellsbury CF L/L

Catchers:                                  Aaron Judge RF R/R

Gary Sanchez R/R                   Aaron Hicks OF S/R

Austin Romine R/R                  Clint Frazier OF R/R

                                                 Matt Holiday DH R/R