Week in Review: Finishing With a Flourish

The Weekly Nutshell:
Naturally, Minnesota's first winning week since July came immediately after they were officially eliminated from contention, and losses became more strategically valuable than victories. At the expense of their 2027 draft position, the Twins finished on a relative high note, winning both of their last two series and playing spoiler against the Texas Rangers to close out their campaign.

The wins weren't very meaningful, but the performances that drove them were: young building blocks stepping up and finishing the year strong to send the Twins into this offseason with a sense of momentum, especially relative to last year.

Weekly Snapshot: Mon, 9/21 through Sun, 9/27
***
Record Last Week: 4-2 (Overall: 77-85)
Run Differential Last Week: +6 (Overall: -58)
Final Standing: 3rd Place in AL Central (8.0 GB)

Latest Game Results

Game 157 | SF 5, MIN 2: Matthews Struggles Early, Offense Held to Two Solo Homers

• Matthews: 5 IP, 5 ER, 8 H, 0 BB, 9 K

Game 158 | MIN 3, SF 2: Bradley, Bullpen Shut Down Inexperienced Giants Lineup

• Bradley: 6 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 6 K

Game 159 | MIN 4, SF 2: Twins Pitch Their Way to First Road Series Win of Second Half

• Twins bullpen: 3.2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 BB, 4 K

Game 160 | MIN 10, TEX 2: Keaschall Keys Offense with 4 Hits as Ryan Finishes Strong

• Keaschall: 4-5, 3 R, 3 RBI

Game 161 | TEX 6, MIN 2: Twins and Ober Crash Back to Reality Against Urgent Rangers

• Ober: 5 IP, 6 ER, 10 H, 1 BB, 5 K

Game 162 | MIN 6, TEX 4: Kremer Spins a Gem to Close a Losing Season with a Victory

• Kremer: 7 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 0 BB, 4 K

NEWS & NOTES

The final week of the season was all about creating opportunities and looking ahead to what's next. It started with Aaron Sabato's promotion to the big leagues on Monday. The 27-year-old Sabato is far from a top prospect at this point, but earned the nod through back-to-back strong showings at Triple-A and six years of grinding in the minors. Sabato went hitless with three strikeouts in six at-bats.

Alex Jackson, Minnesota's scarcely-used third catcher, was designated for assignment to make room. For a third time this season, he passed through waivers unclaimed, meaning the Twins will be able to bring him back as their No. 2 catcher if they so choose. That has seemingly been the motivation behind their odd handling of Jackson throughout much of the year.

On Saturday, Kaelen Culpepper was activated from the injured list following a minimum-length stay for his mild hammy strain. It was nice to see him return for one more quick glimpse at season's end as he prepares to take over as full-time shortstop in 2027. He went 2-for-8 in two games over the weekend.

The corresponding move was a bit ominous: Jeff Hoffman landed on the IL with right forearm inflammation. Hopefully nothing serious, and that's the indication coming from the team, but given his immense importance to the bullpen picture next year, it's unsettling to see him end the year with an arm issue that often has elbow-related implications.

As a case in point, look no further than Mick Abel. He went down in April with elbow inflammation that was initially deemed "not too serious" and he never ended up making it back, undergoing arthroscopic surgery in July. A promising update on that front, however: Abel threw a bullpen session at Target Field over the weekend, signaling that his progression toward 2027 readiness is on track.

HIGHLIGHTS

The Twins rotation was generally not great this year, ranking 23rd among MLB teams in ERA, 16th in FIP and 19th in fWAR. At the same time, starting pitching is pretty clearly the biggest strength for the club looking ahead to next year. In the final week of this 2026 season, we saw some reasons why.

Taj Bradley and Connor Prielipp were massive bright spots in September, pitching to a 3.00 ERA and 2.36 ERA respectively while setting new workload benchmarks. Each closed out his season with gusto. On Tuesday, Bradley held the Giants to one run on three hits over six innings, striking out six to surpass 200 Ks for the year. One day later, Prielipp allowed two runs over 5 ⅓ to help secure a series victory in San Fran. These two have established themselves as rotation building blocks going forward.

Oh, then there's that Joe Ryan guy. Another shaky second half wore the luster off his season, but we're talking about a guy who has made two straight All-Star teams and looked like an ace for long stretches. He mostly did not shown that form after the break, entering his final start with an 0-5 record and 7.62 ERA, but looked more like his best version on Friday night when he struck out eight over six innings of two-run ball.

I would've fully expected the Twins to trade Ryan this offseason, and still believe they'll be open to the idea, but his struggles down the stretch might temper his market to a point where it makes sense to bring him back for his walk year. Asset management aside, that's an exciting proposition with Prielipp and Bradley looking like outstanding mid-rotation options, and Pablo López — who departed for Miami over the weekend to ramp up his Tommy John rehab — retaking his place atop the unit. 

Luke Keaschall is another major source of optimism for the team's 2027 outlook. He has solidified his standing as a prototypical leadoff man, putting a stamp on a strong sophomore season with a stellar final week: 6-for-18 with a double, two triples, a homer, six RBIs and 10 (!) runs scored scored. Keaschall has been getting on base relentlessly all year, ranking 14th in the majors in OBP, but what I find especially heartening about his finish is the power we've seen emerge. That was on full display with six extra base hits over these final six games.

I'm excited to see what Keaschall can do as the table-setter in a 2027 lineup that will surely include Walker Jenkins and Emmanuel Rodriguez, who both homered last week. They'll mix in with returning veterans like Kody Clemens, who batted third or fourth routinely against right-handers in September, reflecting the level of trust Derek Shelton has in his bat. Clemens kept delivering on that trust in last week: he went 6-for-22 with his team-leading 27th home run, closing out a season that fully solidified his status as a starting-caliber big leaguer. A great story and a great find for the Twins.

The bullpen is sure to be an area of focus for the front office this offseason — it was generally a weakness for the 2026 team both before and after they addressed it at the deadline. The relief corps did finish on a high note however, combining for 16 ⅔ shutout innings across five games before a hiccup in the season finale. That included:

• 3 ⅔ scoreless frames from Travis Adams, who struck out seven with one walk allowed. It's a nice end cap to a second half that has strongly bolstered Adams' case to be a part of next year's bullpen. From July 1st onward, he posted a 3.13 ERA and 3.50 FIP across 37 ⅓ innings. Adams showed the ability to get a lot of chase and a lot of whiffs this year.
• Kody Funderburk also experienced a resurgent second half that strengthened his place in the team's plans. He led the staff in WPA after June, posting a 2.93 ERA with 38 strikeouts in 30 ⅔ innings, and closed things out with two scoreless appearances
• Yoendrys Gómez and Andrew Morris, whose late-season struggles have forced the Twins to rethink their roles moving forward, both at least ended their seasons on the upswing. Gómez, coming off a nightmarish week, picked up the win on Wednesday in San Francisco and was perfect across 2 ⅔ innings, retiring all eight batters faced. Morris gave up an ultimately inconsequential two-run homer in the ninth inning Sunday, but struck out three across two shutout innings previously.
• Finally, we've got to shout out Taylor Rogers. Unlike the guys above, he's not vying for a spot in next year's bullpen picture, but he did a solid job this year as a veteran placeholder. The final week saw him make his team-leading 63rd, 64th and 65th appearances, throwing strikes and shutting down the opposition. He deserves a tip of the cap for what he brought to the table on a one-year, $2 million deal.

LOWLIGHTS

With our focus now fully geared toward 2027, I suppose it's a positive that most of the players who ended this season in a funk are not likely part of the future plans. 

Impending free agent Josh Bell homered and drove in five last week to push his season total to 95 RBIs, but went just 3-for-17 and finished the season with an unexceptional .738 OPS. Ryan Jeffers, who's also about to hit the open market, went 3-for-15 with six strikeouts, punctuating an ugly finish to his walk year. Will his September downturn affect the team's decision-making with regards to a qualifying offer? We'll see.

Royce Lewis is not due for free agency, but will probably be moving on anyway. He went 4-for-19 with six strikeouts, and finishes September with a 27-to-3 K/BB ratio. Lewis did homer in the season's last game, just his second in 44 games, but finished with a .227 average and .667 OPS. The Twins need to get a lot more production out of first base and Lewis has given us little reason to believe he's capable of it anymore.

Bailey Ober got rocked in what may have been his last start as a Twin on Saturday, surrendering six earned runs on 10 hits in five innings against the Rangers. Ober allowed a ton of hard contact, including two home runs. It's a major credit to him that he largely avoided outings like this over the course of the season despite failing to crack 90 with his fastball, but it's a performance that underscores the risk in continuing to count on him going forward. If the Twins want to invest in bringing back a veteran No. 5 starter next year, Dean Kremer (who was brilliant in his final start on Sunday) would seem to be the better choice.

If this is it for guys like Jeffers, Lewis and Ober, then we are reaching the end of an era. They are among the team's longest-tenured players. It's unfortunate to see them play poorly on the way out, but I'll remember and appreciate the many highlights we saw from each over many years.

TRENDING STORYLINE

An interesting offseason lies ahead. The possibility (inevitability?) of an impending MLB lockout looms over everything, but beyond that, the Twins and their front office have some stuff to figure out. The transitional 2026 season is over and now it's time to push.

That begins with finding ways to reinforce a lineup that will be losing two of its most productive bats in Bell and Jeffers, who ended the season batting third and fourth. Counting on young and inexperienced hitters like Jenkins, Rodriguez and Culpepper to carry the weight of catalyzing the offense is a dangerous gambit. 

And then of course there is a the bullpen. Hopefully Hoffman comes back healthy, and they've got plenty to work with in the middle innings, but the Twins do seem to need at least one more trusted high-leverage arm. We're going to need to see much more ambition and urgency here than we did last winter.

The baseball ops group that will be navigating this key offseason is in flux. We saw Thad Levine and Derek Falvey depart in the past couple of years, and more recently the Twins parted ways with assistant GM Daniel Adler and longtime scouting exec Deron Johnson. What does the future hold for Jeremy Zoll? WIll he remain atop the decision-making hierarchy, or will the club seek out a new front office leader? 

Much to be decided. Now that the vaunted prospects have arrived, and the rotation is built for success, there are no excuses. The 2027 season needs to be a legitimately competitive one. But first, the league and its players association will need to get aligned. The CBA is set to expire on December 1st.

LOOKING BACK

As always, I've really enjoyed bringing you these recaps each Sunday night. I appreciate all the feedback I've received and all the great conversations sparked in the comments. I told myself at the beginning of the season that — while the likelihood of missing the playoffs was evident — it would be important to analyze meaningful big-picture developments and celebrate the wins where we could. I think we've done that, continually surfacing highlights for a team that didn't have too many winning weeks, while also recognizing the many areas for improvement. 

We'll be back at with the Week in Review next year. My hope is that we'll have a more relevant and consistently successful team to dissect, but one way or another we'll keep breaking down all the highlights, lowlights, and storylines that matter all season. As always, if you have suggestions or requests for things you'd like to see in these columns, I always love to hear it. Thanks for following along.

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