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The Minnesota Twins are an anomaly this season. According to Fangraphs, the club is ranked 27th in offense, 22nd in pitching, and has only one 3+ win player in second baseman Brian Dosier. Minnesota’s a team with an average talent level at best; however, entering play on September 3rd, with roughly one month left in the regular season, the Twins found themselves just one game back of the second American League Wild Card. Skipper Paul Molitor’s gritty team has this never-say-die attitude, and has been able to keep pace with the surging Rangers and a Yankee team that has more than double its payroll. The Twins have managed to hang around all year, and had the chance to reach the 70-win mark for only the second time in the last five years with a sweep of the Chicago White Sox this afternoon. Unfortunately for Minnesota, the team will have to wait until tomorrow for that opportunity, as the Sox were able to spoil the Twin’s 70th victory by salvaging the final game of this three-game series.  A third inning grand slam off the bat of right fielder Eddie Rosario was all the scoring Minnesota was able to muster as White Sox pitching allowed just four more base runners for the remainder of the game. Though the Twins’ would have loved to have this one, they need to turn their focus to their upcoming series against the AL West leading Astros. American League Rookie of the Month Miguel Sano got was on the bench giving his sore hamstring a rest for today’s loss, but should be back in the lineup tomorrow. The 22 year-old has show tremendous pop in his brief major league career, mashing 15 home runs and slugging .620 in just 51 games with the Twins.

IF YOU ONLY READ ONE THING…

After a near two-week stalemate in the NL East, the Washington Nationals were able to finally make up some ground against the ilde Mets with their 15-1 rout of the Atlanta Braves. The Nats have quietly been playing well as of late, winning nine of their last 15 games, but have yet to make a significant dent in New York’s division lead. Washington played like the World Series contenders they were predicted to be tonight by exploding for 18 hits, and going 8-15 with runners in scoring position. Bryce Harper continued to solidify his NL MVP candidacy despite not swinging at a single one of the 20 pitches he saw tonight, and being the only National starter not to record a hit in the offensive onslaught. Harper did not record an official at bat tonight either, but still ended up driving in one and scoring four as a result of his four walks. His non-night at the plate put him in the company of Hall of Famers Joe Morgan, Larry Doby, and Ricky Henderson as the only players in MLB history to score four runs in a game without having an official at bat. Harper will have plenty of backing come time for the MVP balloting from sabermetricians as he leads the NL in average, OBP, and slugging by slashing .331/.460/.627. He has struggled against Met pitching all year, but with six games against their division rivals and a six game deficit to overcome in the NL East, Harper will have an opportunity to break out of that slump and truly earn this MVP award by helping the Nats overtake the division leaders. They will start a three-game series with the Mets at home on Labor day this coming Monday.

JUST AS WE EXPECTED…

Tonight’s game between the Detroit Tigers and the Kansas City Royals may not have been pretty, but eventually gave way to the outcome we all expected. After Anthony Gose got the scoring started with lead-off homerun to start the game, the Tigers proceeded to tack on an additional two runs and almost hit all the way through their batting order in the first inning. Despite an early three-run lead, Detroit starter Matt Boyd struggled mightily with his command, and loaded the bases for RBI machine Kendrys Morales who made him pay with a two-RBI single into left. There were over 70 pitches throw in total during that marathon first inning, but the Tigers still maintained a 3-2 after the Royals hit in the home half of the first; however, the going would not be easy the rest of the way out for them. Boyd faced four more batters in the second inning, but didn’t retire any of them, and was lifted for relief, ending his night with a final line of one inning pitched, seven hits, two walks, and six earned runs. Lorenzo Cain’s 14th homer of the year was the final blow for Boyd and majestically high blast took the young starter out of the game. Kansas City won tonight’s game by a final score of 15-7 thanks in part to a big day from designated hitter Kendrys Morales. Morales was 4-5 tonight with three runs and four RBI, bringing his season total to 96 which is good for sixth best in all of baseball. The win tonight gives the Royals a 9-7 record against the Tigers for the year, and gives them a six-game lead over the Toronto Blue Jays for the best record in the American League. They are the only team in all of baseball to spend the entire year, game one to game 162, above .500.

WHAT WE DIDN’T EXPECT…

Two Colorado Rockies, Nolan Arenado and Carlos Gonzalez, shared the National League lead in home runs entering play on Thursday with 33 a piece; however, Cargo’s recent hot streak continued into tonight with a monster game at the plate, broking that tie atop the NL home run leaderboards. Gonzalez homered in the first, and again in the third to give the 29 year-old a new career high in long balls with 35. He’s now homered four times in two games, and has 22 in second half of the season alone. The potential for Cargo to be a star has always been there, but playing completely healthy this year for really the first time since 2010, he is finally starting to realize that potential. He had been involved in trade rumours seemingly as long as Troy Tulowitzki was, but with his recent health and the emergence of Arenado, the Rockies may look to hold onto him and try to piece together a pitching staff in some other way. Colorado won today’s contest against the Giants, but still remain in last place in their division, just 10 games away from elimination.

SAVE CHANCES

– David Robertson (28)

– Francisco Rodriguez (33)

INJURIES

The baseball dynasty that the San Francisco Giants have been since 2010 may finally be coming to an end after several seasons of dominant postseason play. Granted, we are in an odd number year (the Giants have won three of the last five World Series titles: 2010, 2012, and 2014) , but the ball club seems to be fading fast in the race for the National League West and in the hunt for the NL Wild Card. San Fran has lost 11 of their last 16 games, including a three-game sweep in LA at the hands of the division leading Dodgers to begin the week. The Giants received some additional bad news on Thursday as reports have stated that right-hander Tim Linecum will likely need season ending hip surgery. Though the club has not yet confirmed, Linecum has been sidelined with the injury since late June after suffering from a setback in the process of rehabbing his right forearm. Lincecum’s extensive injury history may be part of the reason he has been so inconsistent since making four all-star teams and winning two Cy Young Awards from 2007 to 2011. Since that time, he has been demoted from the started rotation on multiple occasions, and has pitch to the tune of a 4.68 ERA, over a run and a half higher than the mark he set in his first five seasons. Despite his struggles in recent years, Lincecum has shown the ability to be effective out of the bullpen as he was in the 2012 playoffs, and the Giants were hoping to have him back in some capacity for the home stretch of the 2015 season. San Francisco has had the injury bug as bad as anyone this season, and losing another valuable arm could be the final nail in their proverbial coffin. They have been a team that tends to catch lightning in a bottle come October, but with only four more games remaining against Los Angeles, San Fran need to catch fire in this final month to keep the pressure on if they hope to get back into the playoffs.

RUMORS & TRANSACTIONS

With the August 31st waiver deadline passed, MLB teams can no longer add players via trade and have those players eligible for postseason play come October; however, with the expanding rosters for the month of September, clubs will be able to add from within the organization by promoting minor leaguers to play key roles at the big-league level down the stretch. The Los Angeles Dodgers have taken full-advantage of this opportunity by calling up top prospect Corey Seager at long last. LA fans have been dying to see their 21 year-old infielder in the majors for some time now considering the early season success of fellow youngster Joc Pederson, and the disappointing season for veteran Jimmy Rollins at the plate. Seager, the younger brother of Seattle’s all-star third baseman Kyle Seager, has progress rapidly through the minor leagues and has risen to the very top Baseball America, ESPN, and Fangraphs’ list of the best MLB prospects. Seager has hit .292 with 18 home runs and 36 doubles while splitting time between Double-A and Triple-A this year, and has averaged .307/.368/.523 throughout his minor league career. Though he stands at 6’4” and weighs roughly 215 pounds, Seager has the tools needed to play steady defense at either shortstop or third base. This bodes well for the Dodgers being that the club is without backup shortstop due to hamstring injuries to Jose Peraza and Kike Hernandez, and also could lose third baseman Justin Turner to the DL again as he is nursing an injured finger. The team had originally planned to hold off on calling up Seager until he has a clearcut spot to play, so this September promotion suggests that the Dodgers will do all they can to fit his lefthanded bat in the line up. They currently hold a 6 ½ game lead over the second place Giants in the NL West and have won eight of their last 10 games.