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The 2020 Major League Baseball playoffs began on Tuesday as the Houston Astros rallied to win game opener against the Twins, 4-1, in their American League Wild Card series Houston will look to close out the best of three series on Wednesday, and Minnesota will look to force a Game 3 and break the franchise’s 17-game losing streak.
The Twins won AL Central with a good final week of play and finished 36-24 for their second straight AL Central title The Astros, who made a disappointing 29-31 in the regular season due to the format and from second in the AL West, the Astros earned the AL six seeds
Houston actually closed August in pretty good shape They were 19-14 and only 2 1/2 games behind the A’s in the West September, however, was not kind to the Astros An Six-game losing streak earlier this month put them behind and they never really recovered.After losing three straight games to the modest Rangers to wrap up the season, the Astros’ record in the final month of the regular season was from 10-17
Look at this breakdown for each team The Astros went 20-8 at home and 9-23 on the road The Twins went 24-7 at home and 12-17 on the road It’s as extreme as you’ll see it anywhere in both teams’ baseball Since the series is in Minnesota, just looking at these numbers to say the Twins should have a huge advantage It’s a short series and these are fluke prone, but it still looks like a pretty daunting task for the Astros
These days we’ve grown used to seeing the long ball go a long way in determining who wins the playoffs Target Field is one of the majors’ most powerful ball fields. The Twins hit home runs, but not to the extreme they did last season, but with just 69 home runs, the Astros are near the bottom third of the league
Still, looking at the staff on both sides, it would be foolishness to think that the series will be devoid of power. Maybe it will come down to the more expedient longs, but these two teams don’t even make two games without the minus a few large explosions Keep an eye out for Twins center fielder Byron Buxton, who has hit 13 home runs in 130 at-bats this season
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World news – US – Twins vs Astros schedule: live stream, TV channel, start times from the AL Wild Card series
