Bailey

Ober

Connor Wong’s second-inning homer was the first of many Ober will give up this year, but it shouldn’t stop him from remaining a quality No. 3 option in standard mixed leagues as a result of his excellent WHIP. The 29-year-old right-hander is currently the 25th starting pitcher off the board, on average, in fantasy drafts this spring.

Ober was tremendous for the Twins in 2024, registering a 3.98 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, and 191 strikeouts in 178 2/3 innings. While the ERA was a bit disappointing, it was inflated by a few blow-up outings at the beginning and end of the season. Ober enters 2025 as a fringe top-20 starting pitcher in fantasy leagues.

Twins bench coach Jayce Tingler mentioned earlier this offseason that Jax could potentially make the leap to Minnesota’s starting rotation next season, but that doesn’t appear to be happening. It’ll be Pablo López, Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober and Chris Paddack in addition to some combination of Simeon Woods Richardson, David Festa or Zebby Matthews breaking camp in the rotation mix. The 30-year-old righty, who broke in the majors as a starter back in 2021, has excelled in a high-leverage role for the Twins over the past three seasons. He piled up 10 saves last year to accompany a sparkling 2.03 ERA (1.94 FIP), 0.87 WHIP and 95/15 K/BB ratio across 71 innings (72 appearances). He’ll remain among the most impactful non-closers in the fantasy landscape and a legitimate force in saves plus holds formats heading into 2025.

Ober escaped with a sub-4.00 ERA, finishing 12-9 with a 3.98 ERA. All of the runs today came on James McCann’s homer in the fifth. Ober exited after the inning having thrown just 74 pitches. While the ERA was a bit disappointing, Ober finishes the year fifth in the majors with a 1.00 WHIP and 15th with 191 strikeouts. He definitely returned ample value based on where he was picked this spring.

Ober doesn’t really have much anything to shoot for Sunday, unless he can strike out 13 to get to 200. He’s already established new career highs in wins, strikeouts and innings. The one bad thing that could happen would be for his ERA to rise over 4.00; he’s at 3.94 right now.

It was a rather unbelievable outing for Ober, who gave up eight hits despite allowing only three hard-hit balls. He struck out seven and walked two. It was just a bad night for him to have such bad luck, and he’s now 12-8 with a 3.94 ERA for the year. He’ll likely start Sunday if the game is relevant for the Twins.

Ober gave up four hits, walked none and struck out 12. He was excellent. The 12 strikeouts were a season-high, but the Twins scored only two runs while Ober was in the game. Ober is 12-7 with a 3.84 ERA, 0.97 WHIP and 180 strikeouts in 168 2/3 innings on the year. The 29-year-old right-hander is set to face the Marlins at home next week.

It was one run through six before disaster struck in the seventh. That inning featured a triple, a squeeze bunt that produced no outs, a double and a walk. Ober was pulled with two outs and two on, and Jorge Alcala went on to give up a grand slam. Ober fell to 12-7 with a 3.90 ERA through 28 starts. He’ll face the Guardians next week.

Obert allowed one hit, walked none and struck out seven. The Twins bullpen wasted a wonderful outing by Ober by allowing four runs in the eighth inning once he was removed from the game. He’s bounced back with two excellent starts since allowing nine runs to the Braves on August 26th. Ober is 12-6 with a 3.77 ERA, 0.98 WHIP and 162 strikeouts in 155 innings this year. The 29-year-old right-hander is set to face the Reds at home next week.

Ober gave up a home run to the second batter he faced, Ernie Clement, and didn’t allow another hit for the rest of his outing. He had his usual excellent command of both his fastball and changeup and did well to mix up their usage late in counts to keep Toronto’s hitters guessing. His changeup is so wicked that he can drop it low-and-in to right-handed batters and use that to set up his slider away. It was beautiful to watch. He’s scheduled to face his arch nemeses, the Kansas City Royals, on the road next time out.