Baseball season is finally here! The best time of the year, and the longest. On March 28, 2024, it is Opening Day for 26 of the 30 Major League Baseball teams, one of those teams being the Minnesota Twins. With the same starting lineup as last year, the Twins are looking to dominate the American League Central.
The starting pitcher will be Pablo Lopez, who the Twins got in a trade from the Marlins last season for Luiz Arraez. Lopez is predicted to make a significant impact for the Twins as one of the aces in the starting rotation.
Since the legendary 2019 season for the Twins, they have been the AL Central champions three of the last five years. With a dominant starting pitching rotation, the Twins need to back it up with their bats.
Last season, the Twins did not have a good year hitting. They struggled a lot at the plate, which made it difficult to win against tough opponents. In the past couple of seasons, the Twins have struggled with their pitching rotation.
Since they have solidified the starting five, their hitters have not been performing to standard, whether that be from consistent injuries from top to bottom in the lineup, or just underperforming.
The big question going into this season for the Twins is, how are the big three going to perform? The big three being Byron Buxton, Carlos Correa, and Royce Lewis. The hope is to have all three remain healthy throughout the season to help lead the Twins to a postseason run, preferably longer than last year’s.
Looking forward to the starting lineup against the Kansas City Royals, the Twins are looking to start off the 2024 season hot. Twins manager, Rocco Baldelli, has a certain way he does the lineup; based on the opposing team’s pitcher. If the opposing team’s pitcher is a leftie, then his lineup will consist of mostly righties, with a couple of switch hitters.
The same is done for righty pitchers. He has consistently done this since being the manager and believes it gives hitters an advantage over the pitcher as it will be easier to see the ball come out of his hand.
I do not think it makes that much of a difference because at this level, the hitter should be talented enough to hit well off both righties and lefties. I am optimistic when it comes to this season.
I am hoping for a deep postseason run and as always, a Twins World Series appearance. All the players need to remain healthy for this to happen, which I believe is what would kill us the most. Hopefully, they did a lot of work in the off season to remain healthy.
Opening Day for the Twins is set to start at 3:10 p.m. CT in Kansas City. Let’s go Twins, and let’s get some early season wins!
