Breaking down the Minnesota Twins’ AL Central Rivals: Chicago White Sox

Minnesota Twins Lineup vs. Chicago White Sox Lineup

Both the Twins and the White Sox have changed their lineups greatly over the past few years, and the result includes some new young talent and some pretty powerful sluggers. Despite the Twins power show last season, this one is closer than you think.

Twins:

• C-Mitch Garver: .273 BA, 31 HR, 67 RBI, Silver Slugger
• 1B-Miguel Sano: .247 BA, 34 HR, 79 RBI
• 2B-Luis Arraez: .334 BA, 4 HR, 28 RBI
• SS-Jorge Polanco: .295 BA, 22 HR, 79 RBI, All-Star
• 3B-Josh Donaldson: .259 BA, 37 HR, 94 RBI
• LF-Eddie Rosario: .276 BA, 32 HR, 109 RBI
• CF-Byron Buxton: .262 BA, 10 HR, 46 RBI, 14 SB
• RF-Max Kepler: .252 BA, 36 HR, 90 RBI
• DH-Nelson Cruz: .311 BA, 41 HR, 108 RBI

White Sox

• C-Yasmani Grandal: .246 BA, 28 HR, 77 RBI, All-Star
• 1B-Jose Abreu: .284 BA, 33 HR, 123 RBI, All-Star
• 2B-Leury Garcia: .279 BA, 8 HR, 40 RBI, 15 SB
• SS-Tim Anderson: .335 BA, 18 HR, 56 RBI, 17 SB, Batting Champion
• 3B-Yoan Moncada: .315 BA, 25 HR, 79 RBI, 10 SB
• LF-Eloy Jiminez: .267 BA, 31 HR, 79 RBI
• CF-Luis Robert: .328 BA, 32 HR, 92 RBI, 36 SB (MINORS, MLB #3 Prospect)
• RF-Nomar Mazara: .268 BA, 19 HR, 66 RBI
• DH-Edwin Encarnacion: .244 BA, 34 HR, 86 RBI

If you were looking for a lineup that compares to the Twins, look no further than Chicago. Both the Twins and the White Sox have a lineup that has scary hitters from top to bottom, with all nine hitters for both teams a threat to homer or get on base.

The Twins will hit more home runs, but the White Sox will get on base more and score more. Despite the Twins will having a dominant lineup, the White Sox could be even better if Luis Roberts is as good as advertised. We’ll give the edge to the White Sox for now, but this is a close one. Advantage: White Sox.

Minnesota Twins Bench vs. Chicago White Sox Bench

The White Sox are one of the few teams to have a 2019 All-Star on their bench in James McCann, and it’s fitting that they’re one of the deeper teams in the league. Don’t count the Twins out, as they have one of the more talented groups as well. Here’s the run-down:

Twins:

• C-Alex Avila: .207 BA, 9 HR, 24 RBI
• IF-Ehire Adrianza: .272 BA, 5 HR, 22 RBI
• IF/OF-Marwin Gonzalez: .264 BA, 15 HR, 55 RBI
• IF/OF-Willians Astudillo: .268 BA, 4 HR, 21 RBI
• OF-Jake Cave: .258 BA, 8 HR, 25 RBI

White Sox:

• C-James McCann: .273 BA, 18 HR, 60 RBI, All-Star
• OF-Adam Engel: .242 BA, 6 HR, 26 RBI
• IF-Danny Mendick: .308 BA, 2 HR, 4 RBI
• IF-Cheslor Cuthbert: .246 BA, 9 HR, 40 RBI
• OF-Nicky Delmonico: .206 BA, 1 HR, 6 RBI

This Twins take this last group because of Marwin Gonzalez and the defensive ability of this bench. The White Sox have McCann, Engel, and not much else, helping the Twins out there as well. Advantage: Twins.

Record Prediction:

The White Sox will make things hard on the Twins this season, but they won’t have the pitching to overtake the Twins and win the division. Here are the final projected records for each team:

Minnesota Twins: 95-67

Chicago White Sox: 87-75

A special thank you to the Co-Experts of Southside Showdown, the Chicago White Sox FanSided site for providing the White Sox Roster projection!