Minnesota Twins Weekly Betting Update-August 30

The Minnesota Twins have hung around in the American League playoff race but will need more consistency down the stretch to capitalize. 

SportsGrid will follow the AL Central closely over the final month of the MLB season and offer a weekly update from the FanDuel Sportsbook, which has plenty of betting implications for how things finish out in the three-headed AL Central race. Not only will we be looking toward their upcoming series but also tracking their divisional, playoff, and World Series odds along the way. 

The Twins opened their three-game series with the Boston Red Sox and picked up a victory on Monday, while they’ll conclude their week with a three-game set against the Chicago White Sox. 

The Minnesota Twins have been in and out of first place in the AL Central and entering action on Tuesday, they trail the division-leading Cleveland Guardians by just 1.5 games. Minny cut the deficit in half over the past week and saw their AL Central odds bet down from +270 to +200. This shouldn’t be a surprise, with the Twins winning their past four games and breaking out of their most recent slump.

This has been a relatively polarizing group this year, knowing expectations weren’t exactly high. Yet, they’ve hung around and stayed competitive in what wasn’t expected to be a close division race. Their upcoming series with the Chicago White Sox offers a good opportunity to put the preseason division favorites in the rearview mirror, likely increasing Minnesota’s chances of winning the division. With their recent hot stretch, buying into their price at +200 is a value that warrants consideration with how tight this race is and the number of meetings they have with the Guardians down the stretch. 

Even though there are two clear alpha teams in the American League, the New York Yankees, and Houston Astros, both have shown they can be beatable, which means there’s potential value present for the Twins to win the AL pennant. Minnesota currently owns the seventh-best odds to win the AL at +2400, and although there are pieces on the roster that make you consider them, it’s hard to buy into their personnel when you see some of the rosters they’d have to compete against.

There’s likely some incentive built into the current price of the Twins to win the American League, but you probably shouldn’t be fooled by their long odds and instead should look elsewhere for value. 

When looking towards World Series odds, it’s important to remember that you don’t always have to focus your attention on the top teams. The team that gets hottest at the most critical time of year is typically the one hoisting the banner when all is said and done. If you can find a team that boasts a rotation with quality pitching and a lineup that provides timely hitting, you can likely make a case that they warrant consideration for their World Series odds.

Looking at the Twins, that just doesn’t appear to be the case this year. They don’t really have a rotation that will scare off the terrorizing lineups in the American League. Then they’d have to face off with a team from the National League that would likely be a sizable favorite in this type of matchup. With that, it’s hard to make a case for the Twins right now, even though their odds have been bet down from +7000 to +5000 over the last week.