Minnesota Twins at Chicago Cubs 9/21/21 - MLB Picks & Predictions

The Minnesota Twins will open a series on the road at Wrigley Field against the rebuilding Chicago Cubs. The Cubs completely reset the roster at the trade deadline, trading away a ton of key pieces and starting their rebuild, they’ve dropped seven of their ten games and are 67-83, 24.5 games back in the NL Central. The Twins have also underperformed this season, are 20 games below .500 at 65-85, and well out of the playoff picture.

The Cubs’ offense struggled with the key pieces that they traded away at the deadline, and with a bunch of minor league players, it has expectedly got worse. Chicago is hitting just .233 on the year ranking second to last in the MLB, and is scoring 4.33 runs per game which rank 21st in scoring offense. Patrick Wisdom has made the most of his opportunity, he leads the Cubs with 27 homeruns and has driven in 57 in just 321 at bats. 

Alec Mills will get the start for the Cubs, he’s having an up-and-down season going 6-6 with a 4.50 ERA and 1.40 WHIP in 106 innings of work this year. Mills is a contact pitcher, registering just 73 strikeouts and 28 walks this season. In his last start, Mills allowed four runs on six hits and struck out four while walking two in a 6-5 loss to the Phillies.

Minnesota also made a big trade at the deadline getting rid of Nelson Cruz and receiving promising pitching prospects from the Rays. The offense has suffered and they’re 20th in team batting average hitting .239 while scoring 4.47 runs per game which ranks 15th in scoring offense. Shortstop Jorge Polanco is leading the way hitting .275 with 31 homers and 90 RBIs, all three of which are leading the team.

The young right-hander Griffin Jax will get the start for the Twins and is having about as rough of a start in the MLB as you could imagine. Jax is 3-4 with a dismal 6.65 ERA on the year and has allowed 19 homeruns in just 69 innings of work. His last start was a blowout loss, he allowed five runs on seven hits and struck out just three in 4.2 innings of work as the Twins lost 12-3 to the Indians.