The Minnesota Twins will be looking to punch their ticket to the postseason on Tuesday night by beating the Chicago White Sox. Here’s a look in your Daily Sports Roundup.
The Gridiron Spotlight
You won’t want to shine the spotlight too brightly on Tuesday’s college football matchup, as it’s an underwhelming affair between 1-3 Florida Atlantic and 1-3 Middle Tennessee. The Owls managed to beat UAB a few weeks ago, but they couldn’t get much going against any of Texas, Michigan State, or Minnesota. The Blue Raiders’ lone win came against Maryland, and they’ve been beaten by Troy, Kentucky, and Arkansas State.
When these Sun Belt teams met last season Florida Atlantic came away with a 27-14 home win as 2.5-point favorites. Middle Tennessee had won the previous two meetings between these teams by identical scores of 35-14 (one at home, one on the road), covering the spread twice. The Blue Raiders opened as 1.5-point favorites for Tuesday.
Other Notable Events
The White Sox managed to beat the Tigers in their makeup game on Monday, so now they’ll battle the Twins in a one-game playoff for first place in the AL Central and MLB’s final postseason berth on Tuesday. The winner of this game will move on to face the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS, with that series getting underway Thursday afternoon.
The Twins will send Nick Blackburn (11-10, 4.15 ERA) to the mound on Tuesday, and the White Sox will counter with John Danks (11-9, 3.47 ERA). Righthander Blackburn beat the White Sox in his last outing, surrendering just two earned runs on eight hits over five innings. Lefthander Danks wasn’t as sharp in his last start, as he was knocked around for seven earned runs on seven hits over four innings of work by the Indians.
The Rest of the Schedule
It’s another slow day for sports on Tuesday, so your only other options are preseason hockey or whatever football games you have saved on your TiVo from the weekend.
News from the Wire
Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett has a strained oblique, and his next start won’t come any earlier than Game 3 of the ALDS against the Angels . . . Angels pitcher Joe Saunders seemed to be recovered from his kidney stone on Sunday – he tossed six scoreless innings in a win versus the Rangers . . . the Ducks have finally brought veteran winger Teemu Selanne back into the fold, signing him to a two-year contract over the weekend.
A Peek at the Future
The opening game of three baseball divisional playoff series are on the schedule for Wednesday, with Milwaukee at Philadelphia, the Dodgers at the Cubs, and Boston at the Angels. The league championship series are slated to get underway on October 9 and 10, while the first game of the World Series will be October 22 . . . the WNBA Finals get underway on Wednesday night in San Antonio and continue through the weekend.
