Blue Jays vs. Twins: Everything you need to know about the AL wild-card series
CBC
The Toronto Blue Jays return to the MLB post-season for a second consecutive year, and now they know who they'll be up against.
The Minnesota Twins will host the Blue Jays for their best-of-three American League wild-card series beginning on Tuesday.
Here's everything you need to know about how the teams stack up ahead of Game 1.
Blue Jays: For a team that was supposed to be an offensive juggernaut, Toronto can thank their pitching for pulling them back into the post-season.
Kevin Gausman (12-9, 3.16 ERA) is expected to start in Game 1. The right-hander's premier pitch is his splitter (a split-finger fastball). Thrown like a traditional fastball, a change in grip makes the ball sharply drop as it approaches home plate and leaves batters chasing a pitch that is out of the strike zone.
Jose Berrios (11-12, 3.65), Chris Bassitt (16-8, 3.60), or Yusei Kikuchi (11-6, 3.86) could also take the mound in the series.
Interesting stat: The Blue Jays were the only team to have four pitchers (Gausman, Bassitt, Kikuchi, Berrios) start at least 31 games this season. No other team had more than two pitchers hit that mark.
Twins: Minnesota boasts a pair of all-star pitchers in Pablo Lopez (11-8, 3.66) and Sonny Gray (8-8, 2.79) that have garnered some Cy Young buzz this year.
The projected Game 1 starter Lopez trails only Gausman in the AL for strikeouts, while projected Game 2 starter Gray sits behind only Yankees ace Gerritt Cole and Padres pitcher Blake Snell in ERA league-wide.
Joe Ryan (11-10, 4.51) will likely be the third man up, while Kenta Maeda (6-8, 4.23) and Bailey Ober (8-6, 3.52) round out the rotation for a unit that has combined to lead the MLB in strikeouts (1,545).
Blue Jays: Toronto was busy at the trade deadline, bringing in a pair of bullpen arms from the St. Louis Cardinals, with the key player being Jordan Hicks.
Hicks (3.29 ERA) has an average speed of just over 100mph on his fastball and has established himself as a set-up man (taking the ball in seventh or eighth inning) ahead of closer Jordan Romano (36 saves, 2.90 ERA).
Romano has had a rough go of things over his last few appearances for Toronto, giving up seven hits and four earned runs over 2.2 innings of work.
Twins: Closer Jhoan Duran (3-6, .245) leads an effective Minnesota bullpen. The 25-year-old was seventh in the AL this season with 27 saves.