Sunday, September 21, 2008
One Intriguing Week
The Twins beat the Rays on Sunday afternoon
to split the four game series with the playoff-bound Tampa Bay Rays. After
getting starts of 0.2 Innings from Glen Perkins on Thursday night, 1.2 innings
from Nick Blackburn on Friday night, and 4.1 innings from Kevin Slowey on Saturday afternoon, Francisco Liriano
gave the Twins exactly what they needed. He went seven very strong innings of
one run ball. The Twins bat provided enough offense. Jose Mijares
pitched a perfect 8th, and Joe Nathan pitched a perfect ninth inning
for the save. The Twins absolutely needed to win that game. In
part, to have a positive feel going into the final week of the season.
In reality, because the White Sox beat the Royals 3-0 behind seven shutout
innings from John Danks and a two run homer from Paul
Konerko. That means that when the Twins and White Sox
start their three game series at Metrodome on Tuesday
night, the Twins will be trailing by 2.5 games. So, what does that mean the
Twins must do in the series to give themselves a chance?
Games
Remaining –
·
Minnesota
Twins – vs Chicago White Sox (3), vs
Kansas City Royals (3)
·
Chicago
White Sox - @ Minnesota Twins (3), vs Cleveland
Indians (3), vs Detroit Tigers (1, if necessary)
The
Scenarios –
1.)
Twins
Sweep White Sox à Twins (87-72), White Sox (86-72)
a.
Twins
Sweep Royals à (90-72)
i.
White
Sox have to sweep Cleveland AND beat Detroit to create one game “playoff”
versus Twins
b.
Twins
win 2 out of 3 versus Royals à (89-73)
i.
White
Sox win division by sweeping Cleveland and beating Detroit.
ii.
White
Sox can win two out of three against Cleveland and beat Detroit to create a
one-game playoff versus Twins.
iii.
Twins
win division if White Sox win two out of three against Cleveland but lose to
Detroit.
iv.
Twins
win division if White Sox win just one out of three.
c.
Twins
win 1 out of 3 à (88-74)
i.
White
Sox win division by sweeping Cleveland.
ii.
If White
Sox win two out of three against Cleveland and beat Detroit, they win the
division.
iii.
If White
Sox win two out of three against Cleveland and lose to Detroit, one-game
playoff versus Twins.
iv.
If White
Sox win one out of three against Cleveland and beat Detroit, one-game playoff
versus Twins.
v.
If White
Sox win one out of three against Cleveland and lose to Detroit, Twins win
division.
vi.
If White
Sox swept by Cleveland, Twins win the division.
d.
Twins
Swept by Royals (87-75)
i.
White
Sox win division by winnings at least two games against Cleveland.
ii.
If White
Sox win one out of three against Cleveland and beat Detroit, White Sox win
division.
iii.
If White
Sox win one out of three against Cleveland and lose to Detroit, one-game
playoff versus Twins.
iv.
If White
Sox swept by Cleveland and beat Detroit, one-game playoff versus Twins.
v.
If White
Sox swept by Cleveland and lose to Detroit, one-game playoff versus Twins.
2.)
Twins
Win Two out of Three against White Sox à White Sox (87-71), Twins (86-73)
a.
Twins
Sweep Royals à (89-73)
i.
White
Sox win division by sweeping Cleveland.
ii.
White
Sox win division by winning two out of three against Cleveland and beating
Detroit.
iii.
If White
Sox win two out of three but lose to Detroit, one-game playoff versus Twins
iv.
If White
Sox win one out of three and beat Detroit, on-game playoff versus Twins.
v.
Twins
win division if Cleveland sweeps White Sox.
b.
Twins
Win 2 out of 3 versus Royals à (88-74)
i.
White
Sox win division by winning at least two out of three against Cleveland.
ii.
If White
Sox win one out of three and beat Detroit, White Sox win division.
iii.
If White
Sox win one out of three and lose to Detroit, one-game playoff versus Twins.
iv.
If White
Sox get swept by Cleveland but beat Detroit, one-game playoff versus Twins.
v.
If White
Sox get swept by Cleveland and lose to Detroit, Minnesota wins
division.
c.
Twins
Win 1 out of 3 versus Royals à (87-75)
i.
White
Sox win division if they win at least one game against Cleveland.
ii.
If White
Sox swept by Cleveland and beat Detroit, one-game playoff versus Twins.
iii.
If White
Sox swept by Cleveland and lose to Detroit, Twins win division.
d.
Twins
Swept by Royals à (86-76)
i.
White
Sox win the division.
3.)
Twins
Win One out of three against White Sox à White Sox (88-70), Twins (75-74)
a.
Twins
Must Sweep Kansas City AND White Sox must be swept by Cleveland and lose to
Detroit to force a one-game playoff with the Twins.
4.)
Twins
Swept by White Sox à White Sox (89-69), Twins (84-75)
a.
White
Sox will have clinched the division title Thursday night. NO opportunity to
still make the playoffs.
Please note that this is not official. I am, in fact, certain that I may be missing a scenario or two. But I think it illustrates the situation pretty clearly for the final week.
Any thoughts?
PODCAST UPDATE – I will be participating again in Marty Andrade’s Weekly Twins
Podcast tonight (Sunday) at 8:00. You can listen live from 8-9 at www.BlogTalkRadio.com/Andrade.
There is a chat room, so you can ask questions that way. You can also Call-In
if you would like. I think it will be a very interesting show. There is plenty
of Twins talk to be discussed, so if you get a chance, listen live, otherwise, you will be able to hear it the rest of the
week at the same site.
With that, please feel free to e-mail me at sethspeaksnet@hotmail.com, or go to
the WordPress site and comment.