Ober's resilient season rewarded with Game 1 ALDS start 

HOUSTON -- Bailey Ober had two very tough conversations with manager Rocco Baldelli earlier this season. The first time was in March, when the Twins sent Ober down to Triple-A St. Paul despite having been a rotation fixture for two seasons and a nearly immaculate Spring Training. The second was in August, when the Twins sent him back down to ease his innings load.

He never showed it, but he could have -- and should have -- been frustrated. But both times, he just put his head down, shoved away the factors outside his control, and waited for his next opportunity.

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When Ober arrived at Minute Maid Park on Friday afternoon, manager Rocco Baldelli summoned the big right-hander for another conversation -- and this was, finally, a good one. That’s when Ober was named the Twins’ starting pitcher in Game 1 of the American League Division Series on Saturday, slated to start opposite future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander.

“He's the epitome of tough-mindedness, and a guy that doesn't dwell on things,” Baldelli said. “He's very much a guy that's just looking for the things that, what can he do? What can he control? What can he take advantage of to help himself in his career and not ever get brought down by anything?”

The Twins could have gone three different ways with their Game 1 start, for which they needed to use their rotation depth before going back to the well for co-aces Pablo López and Sonny Gray in Games 2 and 3.

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They could have used Joe Ryan, who started Opening Day for the Twins in ‘22 and had been lined up for the ultimately unneeded Game 3 start in the AL Wild Card Series against the Blue Jays. They could also have turned to Kenta Maeda, who had nominally moved to the bullpen but remained stretched out to start, if needed.

But they stuck with Ober, who had been left off the Wild Card Series roster in case the Twins needed someone fresh for Game 1 of the ALDS. Perhaps there might have been questions of Ryan’s sudden vulnerability to the home run ball in the second half, which could play a big factor at Minute Maid Park, with the short left field porch created by the Crawford Boxes.

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Ober will make his playoff debut opposite Verlander, one of this generation’s titans of the mound, who will bring with him 35 games’ worth of postseason experience. Entering the ‘23 playoffs, that will mark the largest experience gap between opposing starters in postseason history.

“It's just another Hall of Famer that I get to go pitch against on the same day,” Ober said. “It's unbelievable. Got to throw against Kershaw in L.A. earlier this year. So it's quite -- it's just a surreal moment to be able to throw against Verlander in the postseason. Looking forward to it and looking forward to telling my kids about it one day.”

Ober has earned this, though. When given the chance to stay in the Majors, Ober has been steady, consistent and effective, almost from the moment he debuted in 2021. He has a 3.63 ERA in 57 big league starts across three seasons, including a 3.21 ERA last year and a 3.43 ERA in a career-high 144 1/3 innings in ‘23.

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How’s this for consistency? Ober has allowed four or fewer runs in 52 of his 57 career starts. Since his debut in ‘21, he has the fourth-best strikeout-to-walk ratio among all AL pitchers to throw at least 250 innings.

But this opportunity required more patience than he would have hoped.

Ober was the odd man out when the Twins acquired López in an offseason trade with the Marlins, creating a rotation logjam. As he pitched a nearly perfect spring, he outwardly maintained a mixture of hope and, as time passed, resignation to his fate of being optioned down as the least senior of the group.

When Tyler Mahle underwent Tommy John surgery, Ober came back and immediately went back to being a good Major League pitcher. He was certainly taken aback, when, amid a slightly rough patch, the Twins optioned him back down to Triple-A in September as a way to ease his workload following the arm issues that always kept his Minor League innings counts down.

“It was a little disappointing at first,” Ober said. “It was a little surprising that I was going down. I try to look at it as what can I take from it and how can I be positive about what's going on instead of being a little negative about it. I really used it as more of a mental break.”

When he first got added to the 40-man roster before that ‘21 season, Ober had such low expectations that he was actually out of cell range when it came time to protect prospects from the Rule 5 Draft, on a hunting trip in the middle of the Maine woods before he emerged to dozens of missed calls and texts from team officials.

He’s come a long way since then -- and in that time, his confidence in himself has never wavered, regardless of the obstacles that have been thrown at him.

“I wasn't expecting to get those phone calls when I was in the woods hunting with my family,” Ober said. “It's been a wild ride. I've been trying to enjoy it and enjoy being with my family every step of the way.

“Ever since I got added onto the 40-man, I feel like I've been trying to add to my arsenal, trying to get better every single day. ... The last two years, we weren't as fortunate to be able to make the postseason. We are here now, just trying to take all those moments, memories, the good and the bad [of] the last two years and try to channel it into tomorrow.”