It’s Twins vs Blue Jays in 1st Round of MLB Playoffs After Chaotic Season Finale in AL

By Eric Strack |

Updated: Oct 1, 2023

MLB: Minnesota Twins at Toronto Blue Jays — Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

The Minnesota Twins have been a playoff team for awhile now but their 1st round playoff opponent has been a mystery up until Sunday, when the Toronto Blue Jays fell to the bottom of the American League playoff picture and netted the Twins in the ALWS as a result.

Astros win AL West, Twins Land Blue Jays in 1st round

It was the Houston Astros who entered Sunday as the 6-seed in the American League but their 8-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, combined with a Toronto Blue Jays loss vs Tampa Bay, meant a last moment season finale mix up in the AL Wildcard standings.

In fact, the Texas Rangers lost a 1-0 heartbreaker to the Seattle Mariners, so not only did Houston surpass Toronto in the Wildcard standings. They stole the AL West and a 1st round playoff bye from the Rangers, who were forced to settle for the 5-seed (2nd wildcard).

That leaves the Toronto Blue Jays as the AL’s 6-seed (3rd wildcard), meaning they will jump the border to Target Field to play the Twins in the 1st round best-of-three ALWS. The series will start on Tuesday and all three games will be broadcast at 3:38 p.m. on ESPN.

Date	Time	Series	Teams	Channel
Tuesday, Oct. 3	3:38 p.m.	Game 1	Twins vs Blue Jays	ESPN
Wednesday, Oct, 4	3:38 p.m.	Game 2	Twins vs Blue Jays	ESPN
**Thursday, Oct. 5	3:38 p.m.	Game 3	Twins vs Blue Jays	ESPN

** If Needed

Quick Facts on 2023 Toronto Blue Jays

The 2023 Toronto Blue Jays finished the season with an 89-73 record, good for 3rd place in a weird American League East that saw both the Yankees and Red Sox finish in the basement of the division.

Bo Bichette is Toronto’s best hitter (.307 BA, .812 OPS, 20 HR, 72 RBI) but he hates walking (26 BB, 114 K on season). He’s surrounded by a lot of all or nothing bats including Matt Chapman, Vlad Guerrero Jr, Brandon Belt and Carlos Correa’s former World Series teammate, George Springer.

Rk	Pos	Name	Age	G	PA	R	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS ▼	OPS+	TB
1	DH	Brandon Belt*	35	102	399	52	18	42	61	140	.251	.368	.482	.850	134	161
2	SS	Bo Bichette	25	134	596	68	20	73	26	114	.307	.339	.473	.812	123	268
3	1B	Vladimir Guerrero Jr.	24	156	682	78	26	94	67	100	.264	.345	.444	.788	117	267
4	3B	Matt Chapman	30	140	581	66	17	54	62	165	.240	.330	.424	.755	108	216
5	CF	Kevin Kiermaier*	33	129	408	58	8	36	29	86	.265	.322	.419	.741	104	155
6	RF	George Springer	33	154	683	87	21	72	60	125	.258	.327	.405	.732	102	248
7	2B	Whit Merrifield	34	144	587	66	11	67	36	100	.275	.320	.386	.706	95	209
8	UT	Cavan Biggio*	28	110	333	52	9	39	40	88	.232	.336	.368	.705	96	105
9	C	Alejandro Kirk	24	123	422	34	8	43	42	45	.250	.334	.358	.692	93	133
10	LF	Daulton Varsho*	26	157	576	65	20	60	45	135	.220	.286	.391	.677	86	204
		Team Totals	28.9	161	6175	738	187	699	547	1296	.256	.328	.416	.744	105	2296

Baseball-Reference.com

The Blue Jays rank 6th in the MLB in OPS and 5th in batting average but they’ve also struckout 3rd most in the league this season. Still, as a whole, Toronto has one of the more potent lineups in Major League Baseball. It will be a huge test for the Minnesota Twins pitching staff, both the starters and bullpen.

Toronto pitching

The Toronto starting staff is led by four workhorses, including Chris Bassett (200 IP), Kevin Gausman (185 IP) and former Twin, Jose Berrios (189.2 IP), who has had a big time bounceback season, after a disappointing start to his career in Toronto.

Rk	Pos	Name	Age	W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	IP	HR	BB	SO	HBP	ERA+	FIP	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9
1	SP	Chris Bassitt	34	16	8	3.60	33	33	1	1	200.0	28	59	186	12	117	4.28	1.175	7.9	1.3	2.7	8.4
2	SP	José Berríos	29	11	12	3.65	32	32	0	0	189.2	25	52	184	9	115	4.00	1.186	8.2	1.2	2.5	8.7
3	SP	Kevin Gausman	32	12	9	3.16	31	31	0	0	185.0	19	55	237	3	133	2.97	1.178	7.9	0.9	2.7	11.5
4	SP	Yusei Kikuchi*	32	11	6	3.86	32	32	0	0	167.2	27	48	181	4	109	4.12	1.270	8.9	1.4	2.6	9.7