Pro Sports MN – next championship?

With the end of the Wild’s season last week, and NFL on the horizon, I got to thinking. Which of the four major pro sports are mostly likely to win a championship first? NBA/Timberwolves, NHL/Wild, NFL/Vikings, or MLB/Twins? Sorry Lynx and Loons fans, I’m not counting WNBA and MLS as a “major” sport in this one.

Here is my order at the moment (from most likely to least likely), based on how much competitive balance each league has and how close each team has been in recent years.

1. Vikings. Now before you laugh at me, hear me out. The NFL has the best competitive balance of any of the major four leagues. The Vikings went to an NFC championship 3 years ago and they won a road playoff game last year. The NFL has shown that teams can be bad and then turn it around quickly too. Plus each round of the playoffs is a single game and anything can happen, unlike the other sports which have playoff series (Yankees, Dodgers, etc).
2. Twins. I probably could have flip flopped this one with the Wild at #3. The Twins are a good team right now, but how good are they on a national level once they get to the playoffs and have to win a series? Plus the competitive balance in MLB is poor. The best teams are generally the ones with the highest payrolls.
3. Wild. The NHL has pretty good competitive balance. Lower seeds upset higher seeds regularly in the playoffs (see Blackhawks and Canadians last round). But the Wild seem to be kind of stuck in neutral. They aren’t a championship caliber squad but they’re not terrible either. They’re what I call a low seed playoff team every year.
4. Timberwolves. This was a no brainer at #4 in my opinion. Been awful for 15 years. One playoff appearance in 15 years. The NBA has terrible competitive balance and there’s about 4 teams that can win a championship every season.

Weigh in with your thoughts and your own order!

Lynx.

Dusty Gesinger wrote:

Lynx.

WNBA and MLS are not included in this. Try again Dusty.

E. None of the above

Flyover country won’t get a pro league championship team. The money isn’t there.

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Dusty Gesinger wrote:</div>
Lynx.

WNBA and MLS are not included in this. Try again Dusty.

This is hypothetical and doesn’t matter, I can include anyone I want.

Dusty Gesinger wrote:

This is hypothetical and doesn’t matter, I can include anyone I want.

Then start your own thread and include the WNBA smart ass

I agree with your ranking Gimruis, and we have a wager going with my Dad, Brother and Uncle that increases every year no one wins a championship. I just hope it pays out before anyone dies! It’s been 30 years since the last one, and the bet is 6 years old already.

Could have “flipped flopped the Twins & Wild”.

Really? Wild can’t make the play-offs in the NHL where everybody makes the play-offs.

It’s hands down the Twins and no others are even in contention. (remember you asked who would be next, not when.)

I’d switch 1 & 2 around and have 3 & 4 the same. I think the Twins are in a little better position than the Vikes. Twins have no official cap, so they can improve through trades, etc. Twins have a pretty decent young core of players. Vikes are pretty much maxed out on the cap with, in my opinion, some not so good long term contracts on guys that are getting older. And although Cousins is a decent regular season guy, I don’t think he’s the one to get us to the promised land.

That’s just my gut feeling.

Dutchboy wrote:

It’s hands down the Twins and no others are even in contention. (remember you asked who would be next, not when.)

That’s fair Dutch. I just think the competitive balance in the NHL is better than it is in MLB which is why I considered switching them.

None,

I put money on that Fieder will when a Bass Master Classic before any of our pro sports when a Championship.

Charles wrote:

None,

I put money on that Fieder will when a Bass Master Classic before any of our pro sports when a Championship.

:NONE. sorry but true. Just hope i am wrong.

DeRangedFishinguy wrote:

E. None of the above

Flyover country won’t get a pro league championship team. The money isn’t there.

Huh?? Chicago, Kansas City, and St. Louis all have championships in multiple big 4 sports over the last 5-10 years.

I’m voting Wild!

At least we are at the top in something.

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Twins maybe…
The rest have a better chance of moving somewhere else before winning a championship.

North Stars

Norm Greene still sucks………..

1. Twins
2. Vikings
3. Wild
4. Twolves

As said above, the Twins can make moves if they’re “close”, which they maybe are already. The Vikings are in now or never mode. They’ve got probably this year and next before things will unravel with cap and age of players. I like Dalvin Cook but think he’s a bit overrated/valued based on today’s NFL and his supposed next contract. If the Vikings give him big $$$ at the expense of other positions, it will be the writing on the wall and turning of the page towards medicoracy for quite a while again.

With any successful business I look at owners/management. Talent comes and goes, people develop, undevelop, it’s a motion, to win a championship you have to have ALL the things in motion together.

Vikings when in a motion I’ve seen owners/management do what they need to do to TRY and take the motion to a championship. Wild seemed to do the same, although I don’t know too much since I don’t watch and all hear say. Twolves not sure I guess, but the twins owners/management will never take that motion a team has and add the necessary pieces at the necessary times to achieve that championship.

I vote vikes.

Hermantown if they bump them up to the NHL.

shady5 wrote:

Hermantown if they bump them up to the NHL.

Can’t recruit in the NHL so no sense them bumping up.

I was thinking about the Gophers yesterday. After 6000 years of mediocrity, they have a great season and the future looks bright. So of course the season is cancelled. If you live in Minnesota, you could have predicted it.

As far as Pro sports are concerned, we’re not going to see any championships among any of them.
1) Twins: They have their two World Series. It was 30 years ago, but hey.
2) Vikings: They haven’t been to a Super Bowl for what, 45 years?
3) Wild: The North Stars were never any better than mediocre. The Wild have had one or two better seasons, but stink in the playoffs. They’re going nowhere.
4) Timberwolves: Horrible for 30 years.

SR

Dutchboy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>shady5 wrote:</div>
Hermantown if they bump them up to the NHL.

Can’t recruit in the NHL so no sense them bumping up.

Blah, blah, blah…

The boys at Hill Murray feel the same way, but they admit it anyway.

I’m starting to think I’ll never see a championship (as an adult)I was a kid when the Twins won so they would get my vote if forced to pick among that group.

Seems safe to say that everyone agrees the T Wolves are at the bottom and quite frankly I think they could be taken off the list.

Dutchboy wrote:

The boys at Hill Murray feel the same way, but they admit it anyway.

Hermantown beat HM 4-1 on Feb. 1st., so it looks like our ‘recruiting’ is working a little better.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Seems safe to say that everyone agrees the T Wolves are at the bottom and quite frankly I think they could be taken off the list.

Good one. For the sake of being one of the major pro men’s sports here I had to include them.

Saint Paul Fighting Saints will win a title before the Wild.

Mpls North will win a NBA title before the Wolves.

Well, the door was open so…………..

Safe to say if any team, coach, players, owners, stadium wins a championship, they’ll be the heros of the state and gold statues will be built for them. Good gracious sakes look at the twins players still cashing their checks off 2 championships 30 years ago. But the toilet, dumpster dwellers the state has offered for pro sports teams have done nothing but let fans down to a level reaching biblical proportions. The “good” players we bring in are rarely great. And if they are the coaching staff or owners ruins them or pooch their chances. We’ve perfected habitual failure in pro sports.