Ryan has an opportunity to right the ship on a shaky second half in his last start of the year.
As the Minnesota Twins head into their final series of the 2026 regular season, the initial hope of being a postseason contender has already gone out of the window.
Ever since the Twins were eliminated from postseason contention on Saturday, the development gave the team a much different approach to the final week of the season — evaluate and look forward to a new season.
There have been a handful of different areas the Twins are without a doubt evaluating. Top prospect Walker Jenkins has been a sudden sparkplug and has shown flashes of what may be to come in his future. Starter Connor Prielipp seems to have turned a corner on the mound, while Taj Bradley recently crossed the 200-strikeout mark for the first time in his career.
Minnesota’s young core seems to be giving much promise going forward. But one constant in the rotation raises another opportunity for evaluation — Joe Ryan, the team’s longtime ace, is set to make the final start of his season on Friday night against the Texas Rangers.
While the Twins are no longer playing for stakes, the Rangers are as they are still in the fight for a potential division title. Ryan has an opportunity to not only halt that, but to finish off what has been a complex season on a high note in his final start of the year.
Ryan started the year off looking like the starting pitcher that the Twins have always known. His strong first half earned him the second All-Star appearance of his career, as he had posted a 2.85 ERA across 20 starts, totaling 110 ⅓ innings pitched in the process.
But right after the All-Star break, things began to go south quickly for Ryan.
In his first start of the second half on July 20, Ryan imploded for a career-high six home runs allowed against the Cleveland Guardians. He had allowed just 10 homers prior to the All-Star break. That outing set up an unfortunate stretch for Ryan in the second half.
Ryan made three starts at the start of the second half of the season before landing on the injured list with a left glute strain for a month. In three starts since coming off of the injured list, Ryan is still trying to find his footing.
In his last three appearances, Ryan has not yet pitched into the sixth inning. In four of his six starts since the All-Star break, Ryan has allowed at least four earned runs — while allowing multiple runs in each start.
Ryan’s 7.62 ERA across six starts in the second half is not what the Twins had hoped for, although the injury may have played a factor in some of that performance. Minnesota had fought their way to staying alive and in postseason contention until a poor September halted them further backwards.
As Ryan and the Twins square up with an actively contending team on Friday, the contest will serve as an opportunity for Ryan to right the ship in his final start of the 2026 season. As the right-hander is set for a contract year next season as he will be a free agent at the end of 2027, Ryan’s start may have implications for the future of the Twins franchise.
