First Pitch: 3:05 pm CDT
TV: Twins.TV / FS1
Radio: TIBN / WCCO 830 / The Wolf 102.9 FM / Audacy
KNOW THINE ENEMY: Camden Chat
Each of the last few seasons, that pesky day off right after the season opener has felt particularly sting-worthy. In 2023 and 2025, it delayed Minnesota’s early-season chances to prove that the bad breaks of last season were a thing of the past — that this iteration of the Twins was ready to get back on the horse, and that a late-season collapse did not define the fresh new
version of the team. In 2024, it put a temporary pause on the momentum of 2023, and left room for another day of morbid speculation as to what effect “right-sizing” was going to have on the season ahead.
But in 2026, an early day off feels less like a tease and more like a delay of the inevitable. In their opening salvo, the Twins stamped all the squares on their 2026 bingo card: a great start from Joe Ryan, a loss credited to leaky relief and bad defense, an outright failure to hit with runners in scoring position, and a run-scoring opportunity created single-handedly by Byron Buxton, maybe the only good player in the lineup. It was a loss so emblematic of the gloomy forecast, Dan Hayes’ recap was mostly about how Joe Ryan is probably going to be gone soon.
Now that we’ve had about 48 hours to feel sorry for the state of things, it’s time to get back to the grind. After all, as predictable as the Opening Day loss felt, there’s 161 games left this season, and a whole weekend worth of series left for Minnesota to try and win. In their attempt to do so, they’ll send out this year’s #2 starter, Mr. Taj Bradley.
Along with Abel, the 25-year-old Bradley is one of two key cogs in the starting rotation delivered by last season’s trade deadline from beyond the grave. Shipped by the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for Griffin Jax, straight-up, Bradley got six games under his belt as a Twin in 2025, walking a few too many hitters and giving up a few too many runs (6.61 ERA in 31.1 IP, with six homers allowed.)
Armed with a couple different fastball looks, a splitter/curve mix, and an occasional sinker, Bradley is hoping to live up to his stock as a fifth-round draft pick after putting up two and a half relatively uninspiring seasons in Florida. With the exception of a 2024 in which he managed a 97 ERA+ and a career-low 3.1 BB/9, Bradley’s other big-league stints have been marked by ballooning earned run averages and dwindling ERA+ marks. (Some even say that those go hand-in-hand.)
What Bradley has going for him is his age, a change of scenery, and a former top-50 prospect ranking. There has always been potential with Bradley, and there may yet be a well to be tapped, but any player within the Rays organization who fails to see their potential extracted — and particularly a pitcher — there remains cause for concern that another team can do the same. The counterargument would be that the Twins did just that with Joe Ryan, another Tampa Bay prospect, although the optics of trading a minor-league Ryan for Nelson Cruz are admittedly shinier when compared to the optics of TB’s front office giving up on Bradley after over 350 big-league innings.
Both Bradley and Abel, who we’ll see again next week, will presumably get long leashes throughout a major figure-it-out year for the entire roster. If both can perform, the perception of the team is somewhat transformed. If either struggle, it may take us back to the Chris Archer/Dylan Bundy days of rotational depth.
On that lovely, optimistic note, enjoy the game!!
