The Twins are coming!

Didn't the Tigers already have their "biggest series of the season" last week? But here come the Minnesota Twins, surging over the past two months into the AL Wild Card race, and might now be Detroit's closest competitor in the AL Central. And with probably the two best starting pitchers in the American League in their rotation, along with the emergence of Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau at the plate, the Twins are looking seriously formidable. They've become the team you really don't want to play right now.

You thought the Tigers were playing well? The Twins have won 34 of their last 42 games, actually three games better than Detroit's recent pace. If you didn't notice Minnesota before, as they were behind the White Sox, they should definitively get your attention now, after sweeping Chicago at U.S. Cellular Field earlier this week.

Three games at the Metrodome, facing the Twins' three best starting pitchers? It would've been bad enough if Detroit was matched up against either Johan Santana or Francisco Liriano this weekend. But no, they have to face both - along with Brad Radke, who's really the embodiment of the Twins' season. He looked terrible early in the season, like a guy who was done. But he's turned himself around, reminiscent of the guy who'd been one of the best starters in the American League.

Detroit, by the way, will counter with Zach Miner, Nate Robertson, and Jeremy Bonderman, respectively.

For more on this series, I swapped e-mails with one of my favorite bloggers earlier in the week - who happens to be a big Minnesota Twins fan. Twins15, whom you may know from both Complete Sports and Thank You Brian Sabean, shared his thoughts on the Twins, while I said my piece on the Tigers, which you can read here and/or here. I'll be posting his views up here shortly.