Jerry Reinsdorf selling the White Sox could be a nightmare scenario for the Twins

While four teams are fighting for a spot in the World Series, every other team in MLB is at home trying to figure out how they can be in that position this time next year. Some, like the Minnesota Twins, have more to figure out than others.

A historic collapse that cost the Twins a spot in the postseason looms large over everything. As if that wasn't stressful enough, the Pohlads announced that the team was up for sale, a stunning development that only further adds to the offseason drama.

Twins fans have been speculating who the next owners could be ever since the news dropped, but they aren't alone. Just a few hundred miles southeast of Minneapolis, fans on the south side of Chicago are starting to ask themselves the same thing about the future of the White Sox.

Earlier this week Jerry Reinsdorf revealed he is actively trying to sell the White Sox. It's the first time in four decades that he's indicated a willingness to sell the team, which is becoming a bit of a theme in the AL Central this fall.

White Sox getting new owners might be a problem for the Twins

There are two things to take away from this. The first is that the looming evolution of the business of baseball seems to be scaring some owners off. It's not a coincidence that the Twins and White Sox are for sale, and it's almost insane to think that two teams are available at the same time.

Beyond that, Reinsdorf selling the White Sox could create a total nightmare scenario for the Twins. At the very least it would put even more pressure on Minnesota to figure things out before it gets left in the dust.

Chicago's ownership situation isn't unlike what's happening with Minnesota. Whoever takes over for the Pohlads will be playing with a lead simply by not being the Pohlads; the logic is there's nowhere to go from here but up. Of course, there's potential pitfalls of getting another bad ownership group, but the bar has been set so unbeliveably low for the next owners that it will be hard to mess up the honeymoon phase.

The same goes for whoever buys the White Sox from Reinsdorf. That's also where it becomes an issue for the Twins, as the new owners won't even have to spend a ton of money to make the team better they'll just have to put the right people in place. We all watched the White Sox go from a team that might dominate the AL Central at the start of the decade to losing the most games in MLB history just four years later.

All the new owners need to do is not hire their friends and they're already moving in the right direction.

That last thing the Twins need is for the White Sox to be compentent, because that's a massive step toward them being good. With Detroit on the rise, Kansas City figuring things out, and Cleveland good enough to reach the ALCS, Minnesota is staring down into an abyss of uncertainty.

Adding a good White Sox team to the mix makes the Twins turning things around even more difficult.