Minnesota Twins: Ranking the Twins’ 10 Most Hated Rival Teams

Minnesota Twins Rival No. 3: New York Yankees (269-384)

How are you rivals with a team that constantly trounces you? Simple. You always want to defeat that team and make up for it. The Twins have lost to the Yankees 384 times as the Twins and 1,163 times in total. They’ve been eliminated by them in the playoffs six times and the team has been looking up at the Yankees in the pennant race far too often.

While the team has never shared a division with the Yankees, the Bronx Bombers have always been considered one of the arch-rivals for the fans. When you lose to a team a lot, you begin to hate them. That lands the Yankees here.

Minnesota Twins Rival No. 2: Detroit Tigers (473-419)

It may surprise some younger fans to see the Detroit Tigers this high, but Detroit and Minnesota have a long-standing relationship of not liking each other. Minnesota has played more games against Detroit than any other team but one, and they haven’t been fun for Detroit.

The Twins beat the Tigers in Game 163 in 2009 and chopped up the Tigers 4-1 in the 1987 ALCS. In 1982, the two teams got together for what was easily the biggest brawl in Minnesota Twins history:

Talk about a fight. The Tigers may be rebuilding right now, but when they are back, the Twins will still be relevant and will offer quite the challenge for the young team. The Tigers are always going to be a rival.

Minnesota Twins Rival No. 1: Chicago White Sox (503-443)

This is a fairly obvious one. No team has been a bigger rival for the the Minnesota Twins over the last sixty years, as no team has played nearly as many games, shared the same players, and competed for more divisional crowns.

The White Sox and Twins have finished 1/2 in the division seven times, including when the team had to play in Game 163 in 2008 (where future Twin Jim Thome hit the game-winning homer). That brings up another point: the players.

Thome, Jim Kaat, Justin Morneau, Earl Battey, Jerry Koosman, Jim Lemon, Roy Smalley, Kevin Tapani, Francisco Liriano, Jon Rauch, Joe Crede, Jesse Crain, Ervin Santana, all played for both teams, but the most infamous is of course: A.J. Pierzynski.

Pierzynski, a former Twin, consistently was a heel to his former franchise. He clipped Justin Morneau on the heel when running to first base, and Twins fan will not let it go. The teams haven’t traded with each other since 2012, and there seems to be no indication things will get better.

The two teams plan to compete for Division Crowns over the next couple years. and with the Tigers, Royals, and Cleveland not ready to compete this year, this rivalry will only get stronger. Good. I can continue to talk smack to the Southside Showdown people.