Toronto Blue Jays vs Minnesota Twins Prediction, 9/23/2021 MLB Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Toronto Blue Jays vs Minnesota Twins

Date: Thursday, September 23, 2021

Location: Target Field in Minneapolis, MN

TV: Bally Sports North

Odds/Point Spread: Toronto (-147) Minnesota (+110)

Steven Matz and the Toronto Blue Jays (85-66, 3rd in AL East) travel to Target Field on Thursday where they'll take on the Minnesota Twins (66-85, 5th in AL Central). The Blue Jays open this game at -147 while the Twins are priced at +110. The total has been set at 8.5. The expected starting pitchers are Steven Matz and Michael Pineda.

The Blue Jays have earned 260 doubles as a unit and have hit 241 baseballs out of the stadium. Toronto has a slugging rate of .464 and have been called out on strikes 1,148 times, while drawing a walk on 470 occasions. As a unit, the Toronto Blue Jays are recording 5.3 runs per outing, which ranks them 3rd in the league. They have 764 runs batted in and 1,355 base knocks over the course of the season, and their team batting average is sitting at .266. They have tallied 793 runs and hold an OBP of .332.

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The Blue Jays have an ERA of 3.87 this season (9th in MLB), and they have struck out 1,364 batters. They have a strikeout to walk ratio of 3.10 and their pitching staff has a collective WHIP of 1.23. Blue Jays pitchers have surrendered 194 home runs in addition to 616 runs (7th in baseball). Their pitching staff has walked 440 batters and their FIP is 4.16 as a squad on the season.

The Blue Jays bullpen have accumulated a save rate of 64.6% and has come into the game in 113 save situations. The bullpen pitchers have inherited 224 base runners on the campaign with 28.1% of those players ended up crossing the plate. Blue Jays bullpen pitchers have gone to the mound with players on base 157 times and also have had 152 appearances in high leverage situations. The Blue Jays have sent 502 relievers to the hill for the season. The relief pitchers have recorded 62 holds so far this season (28th in the league). They have 31 saves for the year and have missed out on 17 out of their 48 save chances.

The Toronto Blue Jays have a tally of 3,928 putouts at this point in the season, in addition to 1,294 assists and 87 errors. Their fielding percentage is holding at .984 which puts them in 20th in pro baseball, and have earned 975 double plays. The Blue Jays have turned 70.0% of balls hit into play into outs out of their 11,784 innings, which ranks them 9th in professional baseball.

Matz (44-48 career mark) holds a FIP of 4.36 and he has faced 3,086 batters during his time in the major leagues. He has allowed 730 hits (9.1 hits per 9 innings) and has 220 free passes. His earned run average is 4.25 (340 ER's allowed) and he has a WHIP of 1.319. Matz has taken the hill for 720 innings and has tallied 685 strikeouts during his career.

Minnesota has knocked in 213 home runs on the campaign and 642 RBIs. They have notched 251 doubles, while walking 495 times as well as scoring 679 runs. The Minnesota Twins have accounted for an on-base percentage of .314 in addition to a team batting average of .240 on the year. The Twins have a team slugging percentage of .422 and they are recording 4.50 runs per contest (15th in the league). They have been rung up on 1,308 instances (15th in the league) and have recorded 1,217 base knocks.

The Twins are sitting with a team WHIP of 1.324 and have a FIP of 4.70 as a staff for the year. They rank 26th in baseball as a pitching staff in total hits surrendered with 1,296. The Minnesota pitching staff have yielded 788 runs on the year and come in with a team ERA of 4.89 (718 earned runs relinquished). They have earned a K/BB ratio of 2.70 (1,224 strikeouts vs 453 bases on balls). They have given up 228 home runs and they concede 5.37 runs per 9 innings (28th in the league).

Minnesota has called on relief pitchers to enter the game in 57 save opportunities and they have earned 37 saves. They rank 9th in the league holding a save percentage of 64.9%, and they have sent 487 relief pitchers to the hill so far this year. Their relievers have come in 166 times in high leverage situations and on 123 occasions with base runners. Minnesota relievers have an inherited score rate of 45.4% out of 163 inherited base runners. With 135 save situations, the Twins have recorded 77 holds and also 20 blown saves.

In their 11,892 innings on the diamond, the Twins have accumulated a defensive efficiency of 69.3% (19th in pro baseball). The Minnesota Twins have turned 131 double plays and hold a fielding percentage of .981 (28th in pro baseball). The Twins have racked up 1,336 assists, 103 errors and have accounted for 3,964 putouts so far this year.

So far in his MLB career, Pineda has given up 916 base hits while tallying 933 K's in 951 innings. Pineda (60-54 career record) has a 3.99 ERA while surrendering 8.7 hits per nine innings. He has allowed a total of 422 ER's while earning a WHIP of 1.186 and a FIP of 3.7. His K/BB ratio is 4.40 and he has faced 3,941 batters in his career.

Who will win tonight's MLB game against the spread?

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Toronto (-147)

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