One Game Playoff
The Chicago White Sox didn’t seem like a team that could thrive in the clutch after being swept by the Minnesota Twins last week. Their last two games, however, tell a different story.
After prevailing in consecutive must-win games, the White Sox (88-74) face the Twins (88-74) in a one-game tiebreaker for the AL Central title Tuesday night at U.S. Cellular Field.
Oddsmakers from SBG Global have made Chicago -145 money line favorites (MLB Odds) for tonight’s game, the over/under has been set at 9.5 total runs (Game Matchup). Current public betting information shows that 66% of bets for this game have been placed on Chicago -145 (View MLB Bet Percentages).
Chicago was swept in a three-game series at Minnesota, falling one-half game behind the Twins in the AL Central and starting a string of five straight losses entering its final two scheduled games. But the White Sox beat Cleveland 5-1 on Sunday and won a rainout makeup with Detroit 8-2 on Monday to force one last game with the Twins.
The winner of this contest will advance to face AL East champion Tampa Bay in a best-of-five series beginning Thursday.
"(Tuesday), 162 games mean nothing. It’s only about one game and that’s great," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "A good feeling."
Alexei Ramirez set a rookie record with his fourth grand slam to lead Chicago versus the Tigers. The second baseman is batting .340 (18-for-53) with two home runs in 14 games against the Twins, but Chicago hit .216 and scored only 11 runs in last week’s series.
Those games were played at Minnesota, where Chicago went 1-8 this season. But the White Sox have won seven of nine games against the Twins at U.S. Cellular Field.
Chicago won a coin flip held earlier this month to decide which team would host the tiebreaker, perhaps catching a break due to its struggles at Minnesota. The Twins have also struggled on the road, going 2-7 at U.S. Cellular Field and 35-46 overall.
"We know where we’re going, and we know what we’ve got to do," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said.
John Danks (11-9, 3.47 ERA) – starting on three days’ rest – is one of the few members of the White Sox who’ve had a tough time at home against Minnesota. He is 1-2 with a 7.45 ERA in four starts versus the Twins at Chicago, and 2-3 with a 6.88 ERA in seven starts overall.
And it doesn’t help that Danks is coming off his worst start of the season, allowing seven runs and seven hits in four innings as Chicago lost 11-8 to Cleveland on Friday night. The 23-year-old left-hander went 1-0 with a 0.98 ERA in his previous three starts.
Twins catcher Joe Mauer and first baseman Justin Morneau have been particularly successful against Danks, going 8-for-12 (.667) and 7-for-16 (.438), respectively.
Morneau went 0-for-3 with two walks for Minnesota in a 6-0 win over Kansas City on Sunday, finishing 3-for-23 on a six-game homestand and enters this game in a 6-for-38 slump. Morneau needs one RBI Tuesday to match Josh Hamilton of Texas for the AL RBI lead with 130.
Mauer, meanwhile, went 2-for-5 to keep his AL-leading average at .330, and has a four-point lead over Boston’s Dustin Pedroia. He would have to go 0-for-7 or worse to lose what would be his second AL batting title in three seasons.
"Like I’ve always said, we’re trying to do bigger things here. If we get to the playoffs and that happens, I’ll be a happy guy for sure," Mauer said.
Mauer, whose 85 RBIs are the most ever by a Minnesota catcher, will be Nick Blackburn’s batterymate Tuesday. Blackburn (11-10, 4.14 ERA) is 0-2 with a 7.20 ERA in three career road starts versus the White Sox, and 2-2 with a 5.28 ERA in five starts and one relief appearance against them overall.
Blackburn, though, earned a win against the White Sox in his last outing, giving up two runs and eight hits in five innings as Minnesota won 3-2 on Wednesday night.
Despite the stakes at hand for this pressure-filled game, Blackburn isn’t going to change his approach.
"I’m going to go out there with my game plan in my mind, and hopefully I can execute everything I can," he said.
This will be the fourth one-game tiebreaker that has been played in the AL. The last such contest was in 1995, when Seattle beat the California Angels 9-1 for the AL West title. Last season, Colorado beat San Diego 9-8 in 13 innings in an NL wild-card tiebreaker game.
Chicago is trying to return to the postseason for the first time since winning the World Series in 2005. Minnesota, meanwhile, has a chance to make the playoffs after a one-year absence.
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