The Twins closed the regular season with a 6-4 win over the Rangers at Target Field, and Dean Kremer was right in the middle of it. He worked seven innings, allowed three hits and one earned run, walked none and struck out four on 74 pitches, giving Minnesota the kind of steady start that can make a game feel under control even when the stakes are floating around in the background.
That mattered because the Rangers came in with something real on the line. A win, paired with an Astros loss, would have sent Texas to the playoffs as a sub-.500 team. Instead, the day turned into a grind almost immediately, and the Twins kept adding small blows until the game was out of reach.
Minnesota struck first in the opening inning. Luke Keaschall walked, Kaelen Culpepper singled, and Josh Bell brought Keaschall home with a sacrifice fly.
Bell wasn’t done there. He kept pressing for his 100th RBI and picked up three RBIs over the first three innings, including a damaging home run off Chase Silseth after Silseth had replaced MacKenzie Gore with one out in the third.
Gore never got deep into the game. The Rangers asked him to face the Twins only once through the order, and that was enough for Minnesota to make him pay early. His line of work included the first-inning sacrifice fly and a short outing in a game Texas needed badly.
Kremer, meanwhile, settled in. He mixed his cutter and splitter well on both sides of the zone and mostly kept the Rangers quiet.
The lone real damage came in the third, when Danny Jansen launched a home run. Outside of that, Kremer kept Texas from stringing together much of anything and continued what the game story described as a very Carl Pavano-ish run.
After Gore was lifted, the Rangers kept reaching for answers. Chase Silseth hit Keaschall before Bell delivered the home run.
Jakob Junis then took over in the fifth, but that didn’t help matters much either. Walker Jenkins singled, and Junis walked three straight batters as the Rangers’ season kept unraveling.
The Twins didn’t need a late surge to feel in control, but they got one anyway. Elias Díaz homered off A.J.
Minter to open the eighth, and Royce Lewis later added a homer of his own. Corey Seager answered with a blast for Texas in the ninth, trimming the margin, but the comeback never got close enough to matter.
There was still a little more to track beyond the scoreboard. Bell came in needing seven RBIs to reach 100, and he made a serious push with his early production.
Justin Morneau in the booth made it clear he was leaning toward Brooks Lee as team MVP, though the source material noted the case against that because of Lee’s sub-.300 OBP. Keaschall’s season line kept looking stronger too: a 122 OPS+ in more than 800 big-league plate appearances, a .374 OBP and 3.0 fWAR despite defensive issues.
Lewis also had a notable afternoon. He was caught stealing for the first time this year, finishing 16-for-17, and his homer came in his final at-bat. The source material left open the possibility that it might be the last one he takes as a Twin.
The bullpen usage told its own story, too, with Minnesota and Texas both leaning on arms in a season-ending game that carried more emotional weight than clean baseball. And for the Twins, the day carried a hint of goodbye.
The names floated as possible farewells included Ryan Jeffers, Bell, Taylor Rogers, Lewis, Trevor Larnach, Austin Martin, Joe Ryan, A.J. Minter, Bailey Ober, Tommy Nance, Matt Wallner and maybe even Emmanuel Rodriguez if the club really reshuffles things with him out of options.
Whatever comes next, it won’t arrive immediately. For now, Minnesota gets to sit with a win, a sharp outing from Kremer and the sense that this team had enough pieces to make you wonder what might have been in a wide-open American League.
In Other News...
Twins May Have Just Seen A Painful Goodbye Behind The Plate
The Twins closed their 2026 season with a 6-4 win over the Rangers, and for Mitch Jeffers, it may have also marked the end of the line in Minnesota for now. Jeffers wrapped up his final game of the year with the club, then looked back on a career that brought both staying power and a strong individual season, even with injury setbacks interrupting the run.
What comes next is the part Minnesota has to brace for. Jeffers is set to hit free agency this winter, and the Twins are left weighing an uncertain future behind the plate while also sorting through other roster moves. For a team that values stability at catcher, the possibility of moving on from Jeffers adds another significant decision to an already busy offseason. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Coaching Shakeup Feels Like The Start Of Something Bigger
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For Minnesota, the staff changes feel like more than routine turnover. Replacing both leaders of the pitching program suggests the organization wants a fresh direction on the mound, and the front office has now put the coaching side of that conversation squarely on the table as it heads into next season. [Read more 🡒]
Former Twins Pitchers Are Suddenly All Over This Postseason
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What makes it especially notable is the sheer reach of it all, with those former Twins tied to multiple series and matchups as the playoff schedule unfolds. For a fan base that has watched a lot of arms come and go, this is one of those October snapshots that says as much about organizational churn as it does about the players themselves. The full list stretches well beyond the biggest names, and the spread of destinations makes it clear just how many different contenders are carrying a little bit of Minnesota pitching history with them. [Read more 🡒]