By: Kelly Thesier/MLB.com

MINNEAPOLIS — The buzz has been building in the Twin Cities all day and no, it’s not about the fact that Randy Moss is now back with the Vikings.

Tonight, the Twins officially host the first playoff game at Target Field and the storyline is set with the vaunted Yankees as the opponent. So the Twin will try to see if they can end this streak of three postseason series losses to the Yankees and head back to the ALCS for the first time since 2002.

Big news of the day was that the roster has now been set. Both Jon Rauch and Scott Baker made the roster while Kevin Slowey was left off. Rauch’s left knee is well enough for him to pitch and Gardy said that they liked Baker’s ability to strike out the Yankees over Slowey’s pitch-to-contact stuff at least for this series.

And now it’s up to the Twins to see if they can make a statement in Game 1. To me, this seems to be one of the most confident Twins teams that I’ve seen in my five years on the beat. Of course it helps that this is the first time over that span they’ve been able to rest their team and set up the rotation for the postseason. Will it make a difference? Starting tonight, we’ll see.

Yankees (0-0)

Derek Jeter, SS

Nick Swisher, RF
Mark Teixeira, 1B
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
Robinson Cano, 2B
Marcus Thames, DH
Jorge Posada, C
Curtis Granderson, CF
Brett Gardner, LF

Pitching: LHP CC Sabathia

(21-7, 3.18 ERA this season)

Twins

(0-0)

Denard Span, CF

Orlando Hudson, 2B
Joe Mauer, C
Delmon Young, LF
Jim Thome, DH
Michael Cuddyer, 1B
Jason
Kubel, RF
Danny Valencia, 3B
J.J. Hardy, SS

Pitching: LHP Francisco Liriano

(14-10, 3.62 ERA this season)

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