Twins-Blue Jays Series Preview: Can Minnesota Stay Hot in Toronto?

The longest active winning streak in Major League Baseball belongs to the Minnesota Twins, who just beat the Tigers in four straight games at Target Field and are now above .500 at 7-6. Despite an underwhelming bullpen and subpar defense, Minnesota's starting pitching and offense have helped the club play competitive baseball in the first two weeks of the Derek Shelton era.

This weekend, the Twins are in Toronto, where they'll look to stay hot against the defending American League champions. The Blue Jays came tantalizingly close to a World Series title last year, but they're currently dealing with several significant injuries and are only 5-7 so far. Since opening the season with a sweep of the Athletics, Toronto has gone 2-7 against the Rockies, White Sox, and Dodgers.

Pitching matchups

This weekend's scheduled pitching matchups look fairly favorable for the visiting Twins. The Blue Jays have several starting pitchers on the injured list (including Jose Berrios, Trey Yesavage, and Shane Bieber) and just sent their top two healthy starters (Kevin Gausman and Dylan Cease) to the mound to end their World Series rematch against the Dodgers.

Friday, 6:07 p.m. CT: LHP Patrick Corbin vs. RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (2.31 ERA)

Corbin, who Toronto recently signed out of necessity, will be making his season debut on Friday night. Since a successful 2019 season, Corbin has gone 40-81 with a 5.41 ERA, a 1.5 WHIP, and negative bWAR in 900 innings over the past six years. The only generous thing you can say about the 36-year-old is that he eats innings and can still sometimes miss bats with his slider.

Woods Richardson is off to a strong start for Minnesota, though his underlying metrics don't inspire much confidence. He was acquired from Toronto, along with Austin Martin, for Berrios in July 2021.

Saturday, 2:07 p.m: LHP Eric Lauer (4.91) vs. RHP Joe Ryan (4.40)

The Twins will send their ace to the mound on Saturday afternoon. Ryan has sandwiched two good starts around a difficult outing in heavy rain in Kansas City. The 2025 All-Star has 17 strikeouts to 5 walks so far, complementing his excellent fastball with an improved curveball. Lauer struck out nine in his first start this season and then went just two innings while dealing with flu symptoms last time out. He was quite good for the Blue Jays last season (3.18 ERA).

As a side note, the Twins have faced a left-handed starter in seven of their 13 games so far and are, incredibly, scheduled to face seven more in their next nine games, including two this weekend. That is a far higher rate of lefties than teams typically see.

Sunday, 12:37 p.m: RHP Max Scherzer (3.38) vs. RHP Taj Bradley (1.08)

The 41-year-old Scherzer pitched well in his season debut, then left his most recent start after two innings due to forearm tendinitis. He's still capable of generating outs but did have a 5.19 ERA in 85 innings for Toronto last year. Bradley has been a revelation for the Twins so far, allowing only two earned runs in 16.2 innings with 22 strikeouts and four walks. He struck out 10 in his last outing, and the Twins are 3-0 in his starts.

Other notes

The Blue Jays are 23rd in baseball so far with a .650 OPS. They're without Alejandro Kirk and Addison Barger due to injury and lost Bo Bichette in the offseason. Their best hitters through two weeks have been Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Andres Gimenez, and Jesus Sanchez. George Springer and Daulton Varsho are off to slow starts, as is Japanese newcomer Kazuma Okamoto.

Blue Jays 4/10

G. Springer DH
D. Varsho CF
V. Guerrero Jr. 1B
J. Sánchez RF
K. Okamoto 3B
D. Schneider LF
E. Clement 2B
A. Giménez SS
B. Valenzuela C

P. Corbin SP
— Underdog MLB (@UnderdogMLB) April 10, 2026

The Twins are 13th with a .682 OPS, led by newcomer Josh Bell. Byron Buxton and Luke Keaschall, their top two hitters on paper, showed signs of heating up during the Tigers series. Royce Lewis, Matt Wallner, and Trevor Larnach have also been good so far, despite Wallner leading all of baseball in strikeouts. Lewis is out of Friday night's lineup after getting banged up on Thursday.

Twins 4/10

B. Buxton CF
A. Martin LF
L. Keaschall 2B
J. Bell 1B
R. Jeffers C
V. Caratini DH
M. Wallner RF
B. Lee SS
T. Gray 3B

S. Woods Richardson SP
— Underdog MLB (@UnderdogMLB) April 10, 2026

If the games are close, the Blue Jays have a clear advantage in bullpen strength. Their back end group of Jeff Hoffman, Louis Varland, Tyler Rogers, and Braydon Fisher has allowed a total of two earned runs in 26.1 innings, with 35 strikeouts and 8 walks. The Twins are merely surviving with a patchwork bullpen led by guys like Eric Orze, Cole Sands, Taylor Rogers, and Anthony Banda.