{"id":772796,"date":"2026-08-07T23:27:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:27:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/772796\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:27:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:27:27","slug":"joe-ryan-injury-twins-playoff-chances-hit-by-il-stint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/772796\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Ryan Injury: Twins Playoff Chances Hit by IL Stint"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Minnesota Twins<\/a> have placed right-hander Joe Ryan<\/a> on the 15-day injured list (reported by Bobby Nightengale of the Minnesota Star Tribune<\/a>). An MRI revealed that Ryan has a mild left glute strain. This diagnosis brings some relief compared to the ominous arm fatigue reported in late July<\/a>. However, the injury sheds light on a sudden decline in his effectiveness. The Twins are barely holding on to postseason aspirations. Losing a reliable starter dramatically decreases their chances.<\/p>\n

Post-All-Star Break Struggle<\/p>\n

Before the All-Star break, Ryan was a steady force on the mound. he earned his second All-Star nod with a 2.85 ERA.<\/a> Yet, the since the All-Star game, Ryan has not looked the same and the answer might have just been found.<\/p>\n

Over his last 15.1 innings<\/a>, Ryan gave up 17 runs (16 earned) and only struck out 10 of the 73 batters he faced. This strikeout rate is terrible, especially compared to his over 25% strikeout rate<\/a> before the All-Star break. This glute strain perfectly shows this drastic regression. Lower-half instability often forces pitchers to overcompensate with their arms. This leads to the arm fatigue previously cited.<\/p>\n

This injury was most evident in his velocity drop. During his last outing, against the Kansas City Royals<\/a>, his fastball averaged just 92.1 mph. This was a noticeable drop from his 93.4 mph season average. Without that high-ride velocity, his margin for error vanished. In a previous outing against a contact-heavy Cleveland Guardians<\/a> lineup, he surrendered six home runs. Cleveland is second to last in home runs<\/a>, just ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"MLB:Jul 31, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Zebby Matthews (52) pitches to the Seattle Mariners during the first inning at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn ImagesCredit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

The Rotation Moving Forward<\/p>\n

Without Ryan, the Twins\u2019 rotation is in a dangerous position. The starting staff was already stretched thin. Minnesota is turning to Zebby Matthews<\/a> to fill the void. Matthews is being recalled from Triple-A St. Paul to take the mound. He will likely have to pitch three games to make up for Ryan\u2019s 15 day minimum break.<\/p>\n

Matthews possesses upside and recently struck out 10 batters<\/a> in a July 31st start against the Seattle Mariners<\/a>. However, he is now in his third major league season and has struggled with a career 5.64 ERA. Relying on a pitcher who has historically lacked big-league consistency to eat meaningful innings in a tight playoff race is a recipe for disaster for a contending team.<\/p>\n

\"MLB:Jul 29, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Joe Ryan (41) looks on after completing the fourth inning against the Kansas City Royals at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-Imagn ImagesCredit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

Impact on October<\/p>\n

This injury severely compresses the Twins\u2019 postseason ceiling. Minnesota currently has a 26.6% chance of making the postseason, as per Fangraphs<\/a>. Their offense is middle-of-the-pack <\/a>overall but can go off for bursts. This streakiness may be their only shot at making the postseason.<\/p>\n

The starting rotation simply lacks the depth to absorb the loss of a premier swing-and-miss arm. If Ryan\u2019s lower half does not heal fully in the 15 days on the IL, the Twins will face a massive uphill battle. Even their best potential offense might not mask the pitching woes faced while Ryan is out. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Minnesota Twins have placed right-hander Joe Ryan on the 15-day injured list (reported by Bobby Nightengale of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":772797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2288],"tags":[5,1455,2328,2304,60,4,2305,2303],"class_list":["post-772796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb-postseason","tag-baseball","tag-joe-ryan","tag-major-league-baseball-playoffs","tag-major-league-baseball-postseason","tag-minnesota-twins","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-playoffs","tag-mlb-postseason"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117056821546401173","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=772796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/772797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=772796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=772796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=772796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}