Monday, October 4, 2010

ALDS Breakdown In A Nutshell: The Lineups


Yankees:

Simple put, the Yankees have the deepest and best lineup in baseball.  Their balance of righties, lefties, and switch hitters makes them very difficult to match up with.  They have 3 guys with 100+ runs scored (Teix, Jeter, Cano), 3 guys with 100+ RBIs (A-Rod, Cano, Teix), they were just 2 HR short of having 4 guys with 30+ (Teix, A-Rod, Cano, Swish), and their starting lineup for the series will feature nobody with an OPS below .700 and 5 regulars with an OPS above .800.  On top of that is the fact that the lineup is finally back to full strength after having people spend significant portions of time in August on the DL.  Now Fat Elvis, Jorge, and The Horse are healthy, and the Yanks' lineup will have one of their hottest hitters (C-Grand) in the 8-spot.  Jeter seems to have gotten his shit together at the top of the lineup as well and Brett Gardner is leadoff hitter hitting in the 9-hole, so in theory the Yanks are coming in loaded with a lineup that has no holes.

Twins:

With Justin Morneau, this is also one of the deepest lineups in baseball.  Luckily, he and his 1.017 OPS versus the Yankees won't be in the lineup, but even without him the Twins are nothing to sneeze at.  Denard Span and Orlando Hudson are scrappy professional hitters at the top who can cause havoc on the bases with their speed.  Joe Mauer is one of the best hitters in the game, Delmon Young finally stepped up to the next level this year with 112 RBIs in Morneau's absence, and Jim Thome can still mash the fuck out of any bad pitch you make.  The bottom of the Twins lineup isn't as dangerous on paper as that of the Bombers, but Jason Kubel and rookie Danny Valencia can still make you pay.  The Twins don't get on base as much as the Yankees but were still 2nd in the AL in team OBP (.342).  With an abundance of lefties in the lineup, the Twins can be succeptible to left-handed pitching, something the Yankees have plenty of, but anyway you look at it, this is one of the 5 best offensive teams in the AL.

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