Twins Or Guardians? Who Is A Bigger Threat In The Division?

The White Sox currently sit in third place in the American League Central and they are five games back out of first place. Minnesota and Cleveland have been battling for first place, as of the time this is written, they are currently tied for first place.

This is a very bad division, arguably the worst in all of baseball. Regardless if you think the Sox should try and win the division, they somehow still have a shot, especially considering they have the easiest remaining strength of schedule.

But, as the season goes on, who is the bigger threat to the White Sox? The Twins or the Guardians?

Offense

Looking at both lineups, neither of them are powerhouses by any means. Looking at team averages, the Twins are 24th in the league, even below the Sox at .231 for their team average. The Guardians do fare a bit better, sitting at 16th with a .249 average. Neither really sticks out in this category, but Cleveland definitely does have a lot more contact in their lineup.

But, contact does not always lead to runs. In terms of runs scored Cleveland ranks 25th in the league with 321 runs scored. This is lower than the Sox by about 21. The Twins have scored one more run than the Sox, as they have 343. This is still only good enough for 21st in the league. This highlights how bad the division really is.

In terms of power, it really is not a completion, as the Guardians are dead last in the league in home runs. They have only hit 53 all season. The Twins have nearly doubled that, as they rank 8th with 104. Now, home runs are not everything, but they can give win you a lot more games, so that makes the Twins lineup a bit more dangerous. You can work your way around singles, but home runs are much harder to work around.

The Guardians are much better in the speed category, as they have a lot more stolen bases than the Twins, and that fits what the Guardians do as a team. They are more speed and contact, while the Twins rely on power.

Overall, it seems that the scarier offense is the Twins, just because of the power potential. If the Sox starters continue to pitch well, neither should be too frightening for them as they try and win the division.

Pitching and Defense

This is the category that can really hurt the Sox. If they put out some quality starting pitching, it may be too much for the offense to handle. Both the Twins and Guardians are at the top of the league in terms of ERA, as Minnesota is 4th with a team ERA of 3.70 and Cleveland is 5th with a 3.74. Both of these teams have been pitching well this year and it could cause issues for the Sox.

The Twins, however, have the second most pitching strikeouts, ranking just behind the Sox with 776 strikeouts. The Guardians are very far behind as they rank 28th with 631 strikeouts. This gives a significant advantage to the Twins, as the Sox have historically had trouble with good strikeout pitchers, and the Twins have a lot.

In terms of defense, it seems that both teams are average in this category. The Twins have committed 44 errors, while the Guardians have committed 39. Both are around the middle of the league and play relatively clean baseball.

Verdict

I'm not sure if any of these teams deserve to be in the playoffs, but it seems that the Twins would be the bigger threat to the White Sox.

The White Sox struggle against good strikeout pitching, and the Twins are one of the best in that category. They also struggle against the long ball, and the Twins hit a good amount of home runs.

This combined with the fact that the Guardians may be trading some key players gives the Twins the advantage as the bigger threat. Hopefully, the Sox can make some good long-term moves and get hot at the right time, otherwise, it is not worth it to win the division this year.