Chicago White Sox vs

Minnesota Twins Prediction

Chicago White Sox vs Minnesota Twins Prediction

On Tuesday night, the MLB schedule includes the best team in baseball facing the worst team in baseball as the Minnesota Twins host the Chicago White Sox. After a lopsided 16-4 win for the White Sox in the first game of the series on Monday night, Chicago is only a slight favorite to win on Tuesday with a moneyline of -115. Meanwhile, Minnesota’s moneyline is set at -105.

Minnesota Twins Preview

At the moment, the Twins are arguably the biggest disappointment in baseball. Minnesota began the season with playoff hopes but now has the fewest wins in baseball and a .333 winning percentage. Things aren’t getting any better for the Twins, who have just two wins in their last 12 games. That stretch includes a three-game sweep at the hands of the White Sox last week.

The silver lining for Minnesota is that Michael Pineda is scheduled to start on Tuesday. Pineda has been the only reliable pitcher in the starting rotation this year. In his seven starts, Pineda is 2-2 with a 2.79 ERA. However, he took a loss in his last start when he faced the White Sox, allowing three runs on four hits over 5.1 innings. Pineda struck out seven in that start but was hurt by a pair of home runs.

Even with Pineda on the mound, the Twins will need to show some offensive prowess if they hope to win on Tuesday. At times, the Minnesota lineup has produced a substantial amount of runs behind Nelson Cruz and Byron Buxton. But with Buxton now on the IL, the Twins are desperate for other sources of offense. Josh Donaldson has answered the call, hitting .274 with a pair of home runs over the past week. Max Kepler has also started to provide more power in May. But the Twins are still struggling to get production from the bottom half of their lineup.

Chicago White Sox Preview

At 25-15, the White Sox have the highest winning percentage in the majors. Following Monday’s win, they’ve now won nine of their last 11 games. Combined with Cleveland’s recent slide, Chicago has built a 3.5-game lead atop the AL Central.

On Tuesday, Lance Lynn will take the mound for his seventh start of the season. Over his first six starts, Lynn is 4-1 with a 1.30 ERA. A minor injury kept Lynn sidelined during the second half of April. But he’s come back strong since returning from the IL. Over his last two starts, Lynn has covered 10 innings, allowing just one unearned run on three hits while striking out 15. The caveat is that Lynn has put himself into a little bit of trouble by walking seven in those 10 innings.

Meanwhile, the Chicago lineup is riding high after putting up 16 runs on Monday night. That game was the sixth time in their last 13 games that the White Sox scored at least nine runs in a game. Despite missing a few key players due to injury, Yermin Mercedes and Tim Anderson have helped bring stability to Chicago’s lineup. Anderson, Yoan Moncada, and Jose Abreu are all red-hot at the moment, batting over .400 during the past week. Abreu, in particular, has put a sluggish April behind him and is once again an impact bat in the middle of the lineup. After batting .213 in April, Abreu is hitting .349 with an OPS of 1.119 during the first half of May.

Full Game Prediction

In theory, this should be an easy win for the White Sox against the worst team in baseball. But Pineda getting the start changes the equation drastically, which is reflected in the near-even betting odds. Nevertheless, the BetQL model is still leaning toward the White Sox, projecting Chicago to have a better than 57% chance of winning. Over the last two years, the White Sox are 15-4 when facing a team with a winning percentage that’s below .380. The Minnesota bullpen, which has a 5.31 ERA, is also a concern for the Twins. Chicago is 13-4 this season against teams with a bullpen ERA of 4.70 or higher. Those factors combined with Lynn’s dominance this season make this a five-star pick in favor of the White Sox.