American League Division Series: Minnesota Twins vs. New York Yankees

The Metrodome lives!

Remarkably, the Minnesota Twins play on to the playoffs after their monumental September comeback. They caught and then passed the Tigers thanks to a victory in the epic, 12-inning one-game playoff on Tuesday evening. They don't get a long time to celebrate, however, as they have to turn around and take on the Yankees on Wednesday night in the Bronx.

Continuing the magical run will be a tall order for the AL Central champs. The playoff push leaves them starting the unsung Brian Duensing in Game 1, they don't have Justin Morneau in the middle of the order and they drew the best team in baseball as their opponents. Everyone assumes the Yankees are licking their chops at the prospect of the Twins, but a short series can be a great leveler. Will that be the case this time?

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Series Schedule

G1	Oct. 7	Yankees 7, Twins 2 | Box | Lisa Olson	6 PM ET
G2	Oct. 9	Yankees 4, Twins 3 (11) | Box | Ed Price	6 PM ET
G3	Oct. 11	Yankees 4, Twins 1 | Box | Ed Price	7 PM ET

Lineup
No.	Yankees	Pos	Twins	Pos.
1	D. Jeter	SS	D. Span	CF
2	J. Damon	CF	O. Cabrera	SS
3	M. Teixeira	1B	J. Mauer	C
4	A. Rodriguez	3B	J. Kubel	RF
5	J. Posada	C	M. Cuddyer	1B
6	H. Matsui	DH	D. Young	LF
7	N. Swisher	RF	J. Morales	DH
8	R. Cano	2B	M. Tolbert	3B
9	M. Cabrera	CF	N. Punto	2B
Rotation
1	C. Sabathia	L	S. Baker	R
2	A. Burnett	R	N. Blackburn	R
3	A. Pettitte	L	C. Pavano	R
4	C. Gaudin	R	B. Duensing	L
CP	M. Rivera	R	J. Nathan	R
SU	P. Hughes	R	J. Mijares	L
SU	Chamberlain	R	M. Guerrier	R
Scout's Eye View
"The Yankees offer up a unique dilemma for opposing pitchers. If you nibble and stay away, they will sit, wait and wear down your staff until they can blow the game open. But, with a lineup full of explosive bats to face, pounding the zone with fastballs could also lead to an early night in the showers." Yankees Scouting Report "Minnesota will go after pitches early in the count and also isn't all that prone to the strikeout, so how aggressive the Yankee staff is will be interesting to follow." Twins Scouting Report

Why the Twins Will Win

The perception among most baseball fans is that while it was awfully nice of the AL Central to give us a reason to watch baseball during the season's final weekend (and beyond), whoever ended up winning the division didn't really matter. They're only going to serve as a sacrificial lamb to the New York Yankees.

That's a dangerous assumption in playoff baseball, in particular, when it comes to the Minnesota Twins. They've built their entire organization around the premise of proving people wrong. Even as early as three weeks ago, the Twins were 6 1/2 games behind the Tigers and most thought they were done. Well, here they are now -- Central Division champions.

As we saw with the Colorado Rockies two years ago, momentum can take a team a long way in the postseason and there's no team left with as much momentum as the Twins have. They went 17-4 over the final weeks of the season to get here and they don't plan on slowing down now that they've made it.

Of course the problem here is that the Twins haven't had much success against the Yankees this season. In fact, they haven't had any, losing in all seven meetings. Still, there was only one blowout in those previous meetings, and two of the losses came in extra innings, so the Twins aren't overmatched and they're a much better team now than they were then.

On offense the Twins seem weaker than the Yankees, especially without Justin Morneau in the lineup, but perception can be deceiving. They're led by Joe Mauer who went and won himself another batting title this season, and hit .345 with three home runs against the Yankees with two home runs at the new Yankee Stadium.

When it comes to pitching, there's no doubt that all the marquee names in this matchup belong to the Yankees, but just because you haven't heard of the Twins pitchers doesn't mean they can't get the job done. If they get the ball to Joe Nathan with a lead, much like Mariano Rivera for the Yankees, you can call it a day.

On defense the only team to commit fewer errors than the Twins in the AL were the Toronto Blue Jays. They have an outfield that can get to just about any fly ball, which will come in handy in the cavernous left-center field alley of Yankee Stadium. In the infield they make all the plays they're supposed to, and even some they're not.

So don't let the lack of superstars on this team fool you. The Twins are solid all around, and that, along with all the momentum of coming from behind to win their division, could lead to the Twins shocking the world and knocking off the mighty Yankees.

Why the Yankees Will Win

Well, for one thing they didn't lose any of their seven games with the Twins this season. That aside, the biggest reason the Yankees will win this series is because of two things they've lacked in their most recent trips to the postseason: power pitching and defense. They addressed the former with an offseason spending spree that brought CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett to the Bronx. That resulted in a starting rotation where none of the top four guys struck out fewer than seven batters per nine innings, and they back that up with a bullpen that only amps up the K rate.

They haven't entered postseason play with a staff this good and this deep since 2001, the last year of the "dynasty," and it's no surprise that they saw continually diminishing results until missing the dance entirely in 2008. The Yankee bats have always been capable of lashing thunderbolts around the ballyard, but now they've got a staff that hurls them as well.

That leaves the defense which is much improved over recent vintages. New addition Mark Teixeira has been as good as advertised at first base, a huge edge over the Jason Giambi era, and bounceback seasons from Melky Cabrera and Robinson Cano have improved the defense up the middle. Two surprises have been the improved glove work of Derek Jeter, who seems to have improved his positioning to make up for declining range, and Nick Swisher, who takes bizarre routes to balls, but gets to them far more frequently than Bobby Abreu.

Overall, the defense isn't magnificent but all the Yankees needed to do was be average afield to go with that kind of staff and their typically strong offense. And it is strong. They get on base more often than any other AL team and slug for a higher percentage, which means they score more runs to back up that improved pitching staff.

No preview of the Yankees would be complete without a mention of the timeless marvel that is Mariano Rivera. His merciless cutter failed him in only two save situations this season, and he remains as good or better than anyone in the game when it comes to getting the most difficult three outs in baseball.

That adds up to the most complete team the Yankees have taken into October since George Bush's first term, and one that will roll over a far less balanced Twins squad in the ALDS.