MLB Baseball
2026-09-25 - Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : Major League Baseball
Friday 25th September 2026 - Scheduled 8:10pm EST
1:10am (British Time)
Preview
The final series of the regular season will be played across this weekend and the Texas Rangers (79-80) have one realistic avenue back into the post-season.
They are currently outside of the Playoff spots on a tie-breaker as they sit behind the Houston Astros in the American League West.
It simply means Texas have to hope to perform better than the Astros in the final series played by both teams with little hope of chasing down the Chicago White Sox for the final Wild Card spot. Both teams are on the road against eliminated opponents, although the Rangers are facing a non-Divisional opponent, which may lessen the motivations of the Minnesota Twins (75-84).
At least that is what the Rangers will be hoping.
On Friday they will begin this game over an hour before the Astros begin their series against the Athletics and so it is hugely important for the Texas Rangers to start well and try and build pressure on the current American League West leaders.
The Rangers will give the ball to Jacob deGrom who has an 11-10 record and 3.86 ERA in his thirty starts for the team this season and who reportedly refused to leave ahead of the trade deadline to join another contender. The veteran is set for his poorest personal numbers in terms of the ERA, but the FIP is down on last year which suggests deGrom is still pitching at a decent enough level.
Jacob deGrom had been on a bit of a roll having been unbeaten in four starts and putting together a 2-0 record with a 1.50 ERA, but he only just got into the 5th Inning last time out when knocked around by the Toronto Blue Jays. It is a start that ended with the pitcher taking the decision loss, but deGrom will take encouragement from having held the Twins to a single run in 5 Innings thrown when last facing them in 2025.
The season is over for the Twins and in disappointing fashion, but they will play this last series at home and have split the last ten games. It has helped that Minnesota have faced teams that have massively struggled in 2026 in the last seven, but they are still dangerous if the Rangers overthink.
Joe Ryan will be given the ball for the home team with his 6-10 record and 3.83 ERA from the twenty-six starts he has been able to give the Twins this season. He has been a pretty consistent figure on the mound during his Major League career, but the end of this season has been pretty tough on Joe Ryan.
He has not earned a decision win in any of the last seven starts, but more concerning is the fact that Joe Ryan has a 0-5 record and 6.82 ERA in those outings. Joe Ryan did snap a run of five consecutive decision defeats when holding the Los Angeles Angels to two runs in 5 Innings thrown last time out, but there will have been a dent in the confidence.
Earlier this season, Joe Ryan earned the decision win over the Texas Rangers when holding them scoreless in 5 Innings completed on the road. That outing was the first time Ryan had started against Texas since 2023.
It was also a start made during a three game series swept on the road by the Minnesota Twins.
Prediction
All of the pressure is going to be felt by the Texas Rangers as they chase one of the few remaining spots in the Playoffs.
They likely need to outperform Houston over the next three days, but that is not going to be easy.
A three game losing run was snapped last time out to give Texas an opportunity and they may have the edge on the mound in this opening game of a three game set. They have to use that and try and get an early lead that filters to the Houston Astros before the first pitch is thrown in their game against the Athletics.
Jacob deGrom has shown a bit more consistency than Joe Ryan down the stretch and that should give the Rangers the impetus to open this series with a road win.
The Pick :
Minnesota Twins 3-5 Texas Rangers
