After wrapping up the Subway Series against the Mets, it’s now time for the Yankees to head back out on the road. Starting tonight, the Yankees will be in Minnesota to take on an old friend in the Twins. The Yankees’ dominance over the Twins over the years has been well documented, and the team could use that again as they try to track down the AL East title.
Meanwhile, at one point, the Twins were in the playoff hunt in the weak AL Wild Card race. Technically, they’re still somewhat within shouting
distance of the final spot, but they’re running out of time. After a Trade Deadline where they made some moves, the Twins put up a 10-17 August and will now need to catch fire down the stretch. They’re 4-7 in September and have lost Byron Buxton for the season, so a playoff berth is now rather unlikely.
With the two teams set to take the field tonight, let’s take a look at the expected pitching matchups for the next couple days.
Monday: Will Warren vs. Dean Kremer (7:40 pm ET)
With the rotation crunch of the playoffs coming up, Warren has gotten some bullpen days in addition to starts, but he’s been pretty good in his recent starts. Dating back to August 19th — which does include 2.1 scoreless bullpen innings — Warren has a 2.22 ERA and 3.84 FIP, striking out nearly a batter per inning. He’s still the obvious choice to move to the bullpen once the rotation goes to four pitchers for the postseason, but he’s been pretty excellent as far as fifth starters go.
The former Oriole Kremer was traded to Minnesota at the deadline this year. He was very poor in Baltimore this season, and has only been slightly better since the trade. In seven starts as a Twin, Kremer has a 4.79 ERA and a 4.00 FIP, issuing 3.5 BB/9.
Tuesday: Max Fried vs. Bailey Ober (7:40 pm ET)
Although he should be nearing it in this start, Fried hasn’t been fully stretched out in terms of pitch count since returning from the IL. That proved an issue in his last outing, as he went only 3.1 innings against the Rockies while struggling with control. His IL stints and things like that have led to a very weird stat: Fried hasn’t been the winning pitcher of record since April 27th.
With a 98 ERA+ on the season, Ober has been, well, pretty much average. That’s been a step up from a down 2025, but a step below the early years of his career. Even though he has been around for a couple years now, the Yankees have only faced him once, scoring three runs in five innings in a game in 2024.
Wednesday: Carlos Rodón vs. Zebby Matthews (1:40 pm ET)
While like Fried he needed some time to get stretched back out, Rodón has been on a nice little run since coming off the IL. In the five games since then, he has a 2.25 ERA and a 3.81 FIP. The best of those games probably came over the weekend against the Mets, as he struck out eight, allowing just one earned run in 6.1 innings. He always has the tendency to nibble a little bit and drive up his pitch count, but he still has yet to allow more than three runs in a start all season, and you’ll always take that.
The delightfully named Zebby Matthews is in his third season in the big leagues, having once been rated as a top 100 prospect. However, his MLB career has not been great to this point. He has the ability to strike batters out, but a 5.45 ERA isn’t great. This has been the best year of his career to this point, but he still has a 4.98 ERA and a 4.98 FIP
