Pitching Has Edge In White Sox Vs. Twins

White Sox vs. Twins, 7:15 ET

Ah, the Twins and White Sox. One team is middling and barely ready to make a run towards the playoffs. The other team was a universal pick to be a World Series contender just a few short years ago and now are under .500 by roughly a million games. Okay, it isn't that bad, but they are bad and it isn't looking like it will head in a positive direction any time soon. The good news is that someone needs to win between the White Sox and Twins today, hopefully, the real winner is us.

If the White Sox played only games at home, they might be pretty decent. This season they have lost the majority of their games on the road. They aren't above .500 at home, but certainly a bit more respectable. The managerial change seems to have done nothing and now at the deadline they are likely going to trade away a lot of the talent on their team. Lance Lynn is probably gone, Lucas Giolito is almost certainly out of there, and there is talk of trading guys like Eloy Jimenez or Luis Robert Jr. One guy they will keep is Dylan Cease, but better than a trade involving him would be him returning to the form he had last season. Cease ended last season with a 2.20 ERA and his current ERA is 4.18. He had a very nice June, but has struggled a bit in July allowing nine earned runs over 16.1 innings. The White Sox have won two of the three games he has started. The biggest concern for Cease is the number of walks he has allowed this season. He has given up 45 free passes in 107.2 innings. He has been very good against Twins hitters in his career, holding them to a .189 average.

Sonny Gray looks to rebound from his loss to the Mariners. (Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images)

Minnesota is above .500, and I've mentioned the record of the White Sox, but the Twins have a nine game lead over the White Sox for the division. There aren't that many games that separate the top-four teams in the division which is kind of ridiculous. This dumpster fire of a division doesn't deserve a playoff spot. The Twins remind me of the Brewers, but they seem like they are actively trying to add big name talent to the team unlike Milwaukee. One of their additions that has worked out is Sonny Gray and he takes the ball today. Gray, an All-Star, did not return to the second half with a good start. He faced the Mariners and allowed five earned runs over 5.2 innings. He too has been giving up a lot of walks this season with 43 walks over 105.1 innings. These aren't terrible from either pitcher, but it is an issue nonetheless. Giving a free runner almost every other inning just puts you in trouble. The White Sox have been pretty decent against Gray going 32-for-124 in their careers. He did have a nice start against them earlier though, going five innings and allowing no earned runs on just five hits. He only issues one walk compared to nine strikeouts in that game.

This is a good opportunity for us to take the under. The Twins aren't a team that normally racks up runs, and I think Gray can keep the score low against the White Sox lineup. We've also seen that Cease knows how to stop the Twins batters. I'm going to take the under in this game.

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