Milwaukee Brewers vs Minnesota Twins MLB Picks, Odds, Predictions 4/1/21
2021-04-01 14:10:00 EDT
The Minnesota Twins and Milwaukee Brewers meet Thursday in MLB Opening Day action at American Family Field.
The Minnesota Twins won the AL Central last year with 36 victories but lost in the Wild Card Series. The Twins are still looking for their first playoff series victory since 2002. The Twins lost a lot of production from a year ago, but the offense is still highly skilled with Nelson Cruz, Jorge Polanco, Miguel Sano and Josh Donaldson in the lineup. The Twins starting rotation is a bit deeper with the additions of J.A. Happ and Matt Shoemaker. The Twins didn’t do a ton to get better, but they’re still the cream of the crop in the AL Central along with the White Sox. Kenta Maeda gets the ball, and he was 6-1 with a 2.70 ERA and 80 strikeouts last season. Maeda is 3-2 with a 2.59 ERA and 49 strikeouts in his career against the Brewers.
The Milwaukee Brewers are coming off a 29-win season that ended in the NL Wild Card Series. The Brewers have made the postseason in each of the last three years. The Brewers batting order will feature three new faces in Kolten Wong, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Travis Shaw. Throw in a likely bounce back season from Christian Yelich and the return of Lorenzo Cain, and the Brewers offense should improve on last years numbers of finishing 26th in both batting average and runs scored. Outside of pitchers Alex Claudio and Shelby Miller, the Brewers return the same starting rotation and bullpen. Last season, the Brewers bullpen had the fifth best WHIP and the best strikeouts per nine innings. Brandon Woodruff gets the ball, and he was 3-5 with a 3.05 ERA and 91 strikeouts last season. Woodruff is 0-2 with a 3.38 ERA and five strikeouts in his career against the Twins.
The Twins are 21-10 in their last 31 games following an off day and 1-4 in their last 5 overall. The Brewers are 4-1 in their last 5 home games and 1-4 in their last 5 overall. The under is 38-17-4 in Twins last 59 overall. The under is 15-5-1 in Brewers last 21 overall. The over is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings in Milwaukee.
The Milwaukee Brewers should be much more improved this season with a bounce back year of Yelich and the return of Cain, but there’s no doubt the Twins have the starting pitching edge in this contest. Maeda was one of the better pitchers in the league last season, easily the best season of his career and enough of a sample size to be excited about what’s to come. I’m just not all that excited about Woodruff as an opening day starting pitcher. Give me the Twins and the cheap price.
