A win over Oakland on Thursday (July 18) ended a three-game losing streak that sent some Minnesota Twins fans over the edge. It's time to calm down a little.

Minnesota (59-36) currently holds a four game lead over Cleveland (55-40) entering Friday (July 19). That lead for the AL Central has slowly dissipated from what was an 11 game advantage not long ago. Minnesota still has three games with Oakland and three with New York Yankees in the next six days. Cleveland is on a roll having won five straight games and has upcoming games against Kansas City and Toronto over the next week.

Time to panic? No. Calm down.

The Twins will be continued to be challenge here over the next week with games against good MLB teams. Oakland and the Yankees are a combined 117-75 whereas Kansas City and Toronto are 74-124. So yes, Cleveland has an easy road and a way to catch the Twins right now...

But then things will change. Minnesota has one of the easiest remaining schedules based on overall record. Most of the schedule on the final stretch is against teams in the AL Central, including 10 more games against the Indians. Seven of those will be played at Target Field. Cleveland still has series ahead against teams like Houston, NY Yankees, Boston, Tampa Bay, Philadelphia, and Washington.

If all of that doesn't make you feel a little better, MLB playoff odds through FanGraphs and FiveThirtyEight both have the Twins as heavy favorites to make the postseason.

  • FanGraphs: 95.6% to make playoffs. 83.3% to win division. 7.8% to win World Seires
  • FiveThirtyEight: 93% to make playoffs. 73% to win division. 6% to win World Series

Over 90% chance to make the postseason? That sounds pretty good. So let's sit back and enjoy the rest of the season. It's not time to panic yet.

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