On Friday, the Chicago White Sox take on the Minnesota Twins in a meeting that features two talented young starters on the hill. The White Sox will be sending Michael Kopech out there, and they’ll be hoping he can outperform Bailey Ober.
Will Chicago’s 25-year-old righty lead his team to a road victory? Check out our White Sox vs. Twins MLB picks and predictions for April 22 to find out.
White Sox vs Twins odds
This odds widget represents the best odds available for each betting market from regulated sportsbooks.
The total in this game was originally listed at 8, but it’s at 7.5 across all sportsbooks. You’ll actually have to pay some juice to jump on the Under, depending on where you’re looking.
Meanwhile, the White Sox were once listed at plus-money to win this game, as they opened at +104 in this one. However, the best you can get is -104 as of writing.
Use the live odds widget above to track any future line movements right up until kickoff and be sure to check out the full MLB odds before placing your bets.
White Sox vs Twins predictions
Picks made on 4/22/2022 at 10:00 a.m. ET.
Click on each pick to jump to the full analysis.
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White Sox vs Twins game info
• Location: Target Field, Minneapolis, MN
• Date: Friday, April 22, 2022
• First pitch: 8:10 p.m. ET
• TV: Bally Sports North, NBCS-Chicago
White Sox vs Twins betting preview
Starting pitchers
Michael Kopech (0-0, 1.00 ERA): Kopech gave up no earned runs over five innings in his last start against the Tampa Bay Rays, and he has now allowed only one earned run in nine innings this season. The 25-year-old was once one of the more highly-regarded prospects in all of baseball, so the talent is clearly there for him to do big things. It’ll be interesting to see whether or not he’s able to put it all together now.
Bailey Ober (1-1, 3.27 ERA): Ober gave up four earned runs in five innings in his first start of the year, and that was a game in which the Twins earned a 10-4 win over the Seattle Mariners. The righty was better in his second outing of the season, giving up no earned runs in six innings. However, the Twins ultimately ended up losing that game to the Boston Red Sox. Still, the 26-year-old has looked good to start the year, and Minnesota has to be thrilled about that.
Weather
Be sure to monitor the gametime conditions with our MLB weather info.
Key injuries
White Sox: Josh Harrison 2B (Questionable), Luis Robert OF (Questionable), A.J. Pollock OF (Out), Ryan Burr P (Out), Yermin Mercedes DH (Out), Yoan Moncada 3B (Out), Joe Kelly P (Out), Garrett Crochet P (Out).
Twins: Alex Kirilloff OF (Out), Jorge Alcala P (Out).
Find our latest MLB injury reports.
Betting trend to know
The White Sox are 19-7 in their last 26 openers of a series. Find more MLB betting trends for White Sox vs. Twins
White Sox vs Twins picks and predictions
Our side and total predictions are based upon our analysis of the line and total in this game. Our best bet is our favorite pick across all markets.
Moneyline analysis
Kopech was great in his most recent start, as he struck out five batters in a game in which he gave up no earned runs over five innings against the Rays. This is a guy that has some of the best swing-and-miss stuff in the major leagues, which is why he was once viewed as the top pitching prospect in all of baseball. Now, you’d have to think that Kopech should be able to find some success against a Twins team that has the fifth-highest strikeout rate in the league against righties.
For what it’s worth, Kopech did throw five innings of work over four relief appearances against the Twins in 2021, and the righty gave up just one earned run over those outings. He also struck out four batters in those innings of relief, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he were to strike out six or seven in this start. He just has that type of ability to keep hitters on their heels, and a lot of that has to do with the absurd velocity he has on his fastball.
Ober should also be in for a solid performance in this game, as he performed pretty well against the White Sox last season. In fact, his last start against Chicago saw him pitching 5.1 innings of shutout ball and striking out six batters. Ober is, however, a bit prone to allowing homers, and all it will take is one or two mistakes to let this game get away against a White Sox lineup that has a ton of pop scattered throughout the lineup.
Minnesota also happens to have the third-highest bullpen ERA in baseball this season, and that could make the difference in a matchup with two talented starters.
Prediction: White Sox (-104 at FanDuel)
Over/Under analysis
The White Sox and Twins have both been rather disappointing offensively this season, as both teams are in the Bottom 10 in the majors when it comes to runs scored, batting average and on-base plus slugging. There really isn’t all that much you can highlight that would make either one of these offenses look all that dangerous, and that means that the talented starters in this game should be able to turn in some strong performances.
The Under has now hit in five of the Twins’ last six games, and Minnesota has scored three or fewer in each of those Unders. Overall, it’s just pretty hard to see the Twins scoring a whole lot of runs here, and the White Sox likely won’t do enough damage to hurt Under bettors. Ober is a very good pitcher, and while he could make a mistake, the White Sox can probably score five or so runs before this thing is really at risk of going Over.
It’s also worth noting that the Under is 13-6-1 in the last 20 games that Chicago has played on the road against right-handed starters.
Prediction: Under 7.5 (-109 at Unibet)
Best bet
The Twins have scored fewer runs than all but six teams in the league this season, and they’ve played more games than two of those clubs. This is just not a very good offense right now, and we already mentioned how their high strikeout rate could come back to haunt them against a pitcher with Kopech’s ability. The White Sox also have a team bullpen ERA of 3.15, so it’s not like they’re in real danger of getting lit up once the 25-year-old is pulled.
Sure, this team total might seem extremely low, but the reality is that Minnesota has scored three or fewer runs in nine of its 13 games this year. Also, two of the games in which the Twins did score four or more came in the same series against the Red Sox. It has historically been a little easier to score in Boston than Minnesota.
Pick: Twins team total Under 3.5 (-107 at Unibet)
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