Labor Day Match ups

Labor Day Weekend:

• Twins @ Astros- The Houston Astros host the Minnesota Twins in a AL battle. The Twins are battling for the wild card and the Astros are trying to hold on to the AL central division lead. The Houston Astros are hope that Collin McHugh can carry over his success from August and for Dallas Keuchel to stay hot this year. If the Twins can get 3 big wins it would help them move up in the Wild Card. But Miguel Sano is going to have to keep having a great rookie year and lead the Twins to the Wild Card. Will Collin McHugh and Dallas Keuchel be able to take down the very talented rookie?

• Pirates @ Cardinals-  The St. Louis Cardinals are hosting the Pittsburgh Pirates in a NL Central battle. This series is very important to the Pirates since they are 6.5 games back from the Cardinals. If the Pirates could possible sweep or just not split the series it would be to catch back up. The Pirates have two hottest pitchers on the mound for them for two games in the series. But will it be hot enough to slow down Yadi Molina and Matt Carpenter?

 

• Rangers @ Angels- The Los Angeles Angels are taking on the Texas Rangers in a three game series at Angel Stadium. The Texas Rangers stand in place as the second wild card team and are only 2.0 games back from the AL West behind the Houston Astros. The Los Angeles Angels sit in third place in the AL West by 5.5 games and are 3.5 back from the Rangers for the second wild card spot. The Texas Rangers need to win this series to keep their placement in the wild card race and maybe take over the division depending on the Astros-Twins series. The Los Angeles need these wins to make the wild card spot come closer towards them. Prince Fielder can help the Rangers this weekend considering be bats .500 against Rougned Odor and Josh Hamilton has been cleared now for a few weeks. But it looks like the Angels have a better chance of winning this series considering it’s at home and they are 8-4 against the Rangers this year. Shane Victorino can lead the Angels to victory this weekend since he is 1.000 against Perez.

• Rays @ Yankees-The New York Yankees host the Tampa Bay Rays in an AL East rivalry. The New York Yankees are in second in their division behind the Toronto Blue Jays by 1.5 games. The Tampa Bay Rays are in third place but in a deep hole being 10 games behind the division leader, Toronto. The Yankees hold the first wild card spot while the Rays need to get on a winning streak since they are 4.5 games back to take the second wild card spot. These two teams go head-to-head in a three game series this Labor Day weekend. The New York Yankees are heading towards a long stretch against other AL East teams which are key for them to make the playoffs. Stephen Drew will be a great help for the Yankees this weekend. He has been batting .750 in the past four games with two home runs and nine RBI’s. Other known players that can help the Yankees get the wins this weekend are Carlos Beltran and Greg Bird. Beltran has a long hitting streak going at home and Greg Bird has seemed to show that he is worth starting at first base. For the Tampa Bay Rays, they need to sweep the Yankees in New York to really help them qualify for the playoffs. Players such as Evan Longoria and Logan Forsythe can benefit the Rays for this weekend. Longoria has been cranking home runs and Forsythe has been batting 0.786 in the past four games. Overall, this weekend can affect these teams for the better and the worse.