The Twins were rained out once again today. They have been rained out twice this week, and have seen games in other locations moved to be double headers on a few different occasions. Making the schedule even more halted were a few scheduled off days, which were not re-filled with with games that had been rained out. As a result, the Twins were able to leverage their rotation most advantageously.
Throughout the season to date, starters 1-3 have had 26 starts, with the final 12 divided among 4 other starters. That means that Ervin Santana, Hector Santiago and Phil Hughes have started 68% (60% expected) of their team’s starts. Further indicating how valuable the Twins’ front three starters, and their preponderance of starts have been, those three have accounted for 75% of the starters’ innings. Keep in mind, the group of “others” includes Jose Berrios, and his 15 innings of work. Minnesota has had the opportunity to use their better starting pitchers, and they have taken full advantage.
Though it’s never any fun to have games rained out, particularly with the stunning regularity that Minnesota has this season, they have leveraged it to their advantage, manipulating their rotation to ensure that the best starters have the most opportunity to work. Eventually, their luck will run out, ad they will be inclined to use the standard 5 starters. By that point, Berrios seems as though he will be a full fledged #4 to that trio.
It’s hard to believe, but a good rotation has been the backbone of the Twins’ hot start. You can blame it on the rain.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
