Joe Ryan could potentially get good news after undergoing another MRI

As the Minnesota Twins chip away at their magic number and chase the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central, another battle is being waged away from the diamond.

Joe Ryan was placed on the 15-day IL after suffering a Grade 2 teres strain during his start against the Chicago Cubs. The expectation was that he could be lost for 'months', something he's going to do all he can to confirm before giving into that diagnosis.

If things stay as they are, there's a strong possibility that Ryan's regular season is over. Losing him for months -- plural -- when there's only a month and change left in the season would seem to indicate we've seen the last of him on the mound this year.

Ryan is reportedly going to seek a second opinion on his injury to see if that nightmare scenario can be avoided.

Twins are hoping for good news as Joe Ryan seeks second opinion on right arm injury

SKOR North's Declan Goff reported that Ryan is going to be seeking a second opinion from an independent doctor in order to see if there's any possibility of him returning sooner than expected.

"[Joe Ryan] will seek a second opinion and a second MRI, potentially, just on what are the next steps," Goff reported. "That meeting will take place in the coming days, and it's not going to be here in Minnesota. He'll be flying out to seek that second opinion."

Goff also noted that the Twins gave Ryan the thumbs up to go seek a second opinion, which is expected to happen over the weekend at the latest. The best case scenario is that it's revealed that Ryan's injury isn't as serious as the team MRI indicated and that his timeline will line up with him returning before the season ends.

That's what this last-ditch effort to seek a second opinion is all about -- the timeline.

Right now the Twins don't have a firm idea of how long Ryan will be out, with "weeks to months" being a pretty broad range of time. The fear is that the latter will be true and this injury will require a lengthy recovery time, where there's still a sliver of hope that the Twins will get their ace back sooner.

In the meantime, the rotation is being rather effectively duct taped together. David Festa is starting to come into his own while Zebby Matthews pitched a fantastic outing in his MLB debut on Tuesday night. Simeon Woods Richardson has also stepped up in big ways, while Bailey Ober is pitching like one of the best arms in baseball.

It's been sink-or-swim for the Twins' top pitching prospects as far as being forced to fill in, but so far things have gone well. Minnesota will need more of that, though, as the race for the Central isn't getting any easier and the loss of Ryan would be a brutal blow.

Hopefully a second opinion eases more than just the stress that's being placed on the rotation.

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