Philadelphia Phillies vs Minnesota Twins Prediction & Betting Tips - MLB

Prediction published on 12/08/2023, 02:33  by Joseph King | Modified on 12/08/2023 at 10:05 in MLB Prediction

Saturday in Major League Baseball sees the NL second-place Philadelphia Phillies hosting AL Central leaders the Minnesota Twins. This will be the second of a three game series between the two ball clubs with Philadelphia leading the series 1-0. The Phillies have a firm grasp of one of the three NL Wild Card spots up for grabs as they hold a 4.5 game lead over the chasing Reds. The division crown is likely out of reach as they currently sit 9.5 games behind a Braves team that has been ticking along all year. While they might not catch Atlanta, Philadelphia are having a highly-productive season with their record of 65 wins and 52 losses. The home team blitzed the Twins in the first game of the series and romped their way to a 13-2 win. They’ll send out Taijuan Walker to the mound who is 13-4 on the year with a 3.98 ERA.

The Twins are battling it out with the Cleveland Guardians for the top spot in the AL Central. The visitors have benefited this season from being in one of the worst divisions in the league. Minnesota are just two games above .500 on the season yet they sit in first-place. They currently hold a 3.5 game lead over second-placed Cleveland and will likely need that advantage to hold if they are to make it into the postseason. The Twins fell to a heavy loss in game one of this series which has pushed their losing streak to four games. The bats have seemingly gone cold for the Twins during this downturn as they were shutout twice in the past four days. They’ll start this game with Pablo Lopez on the bump who is 7-6 on the year with 3.81 ERA.