Houston Astros vs Minnesota Twins Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 05/18/26

The Minnesota Twins host the Houston Astros for a series beginning on Monday night. The Twins have played better than expected, but they lost 2 of 3 to the Brewers over the weekend. All of them were 1-run games. The Astros managed to win 2 of 3 from the Rangers, but they still have the third worst record in baseball and are just not very good right now. Their offense is little more than Yordan Alvarez and a cloud of dust, while their pitching staff has been devastated by injuries. Their bullpen ERA is the worst is baseball, and they have very limited paths to winning games right now. I am going to go with the Twins on the Money Line.

The pitching situation for both teams tonight is messy. The Astros will go with the troubled Tatsuya Imai. Imai has not had a great start to his MLB career. He made 3 starts, all of them short, and then hit the IL. He returned last week, but was immediately shelled for 6 runs in 4 innings, including a couple of home runs. Imai plus the Houston bullpen is a rough combination. The Twins’ pitching plan is not clear. It looks like they will use Kendry Rojas to start, but he has worked out of the bullpen so far, so he won’t go long. And it appears that Simeon Woods Richardson will be on call for long relief. There is plenty of uncertainty there, and the Minnesota bullpen is the third worst in baseball. Still, I like the stability of the Twins offense a bit more (they are a top 10 scoring unit, surprisingly), so let’s go with the Twins at home tonight.

Astros vs Twins Prediction: Twins ML (-115) available at the time of publishing. Playable to -125.