With the Minnesota Twins back in the postseason, fans are once again being reminded about one of the worst losing streaks in professional sports.
Minnesota is hoping to win a playoff game for the first time in 19 years -- not a series, just a single game. Twins fans have been subjected to almost two decades of being Charlie Brown while teams like the A's, Yankees, and Astros serve as Lucy pulling the football away from them.
Simply put, it's been awful.
Minnesota is back in the playoffs for the first time in three seasons, and three years after losing in an almost identical situation. Back in 2020 the Twins won the AL Central and hosted an AL Wild Card series at Target Field. The only problem was that thanks to playoff expansion the Houston Astros snuck in on the last day of the season and proceeded to break Minnesota over its knee like Bane to Batman.
Houston would await in the ALDS if Minnesota beats Toronto, but Twins fans would love it if the team could start by simply winning a single postseason game.
When was the last time the Minnesota Twins won a playoff game?
Everyone by now probably knows the time frame of the Twins historic losing streak, but it's even worse when you pinpoint the team's last postseason win.
You have to go all the way back to October 5, 2004 for the last time Twins fans watched their team win a playoff game and the context is even more heartbreaking. That year Minnesota once again matched up against the New York Yankees but marched into the Bronx to steal Game 1 with a pretty convincing win.
Johan Santana out-pitched Mike Mussina while Shannon Stewart and Jacque Jones batted in the two runs Minnesota needed to secure a victory. It was an upset win, and a bit of catharsis after how the series against New York went a year prior.
After that win, though, it's been the worst downhill slide in baseball history. Minnesota lost the next three games to lose the series and haven't won a game since.
Minnesota Twins Playoff History
Year | Wild Card | ALDS | ALCS | World Series |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1965 | X | X | X | Lost to Dodgers (4-3) |
1969 | X | X | Lost to Orioles (3-0) | X |
1970 | X | X | Lost to Orioles (3-0) | X |
1987 | X | X | Beat Tigers (4-1) | Beat Cardinals (4-3) |
1991 | X | X | Beat Blue Jays (4-1) | Beat Braves (4-3) |
2002 | X | Beat A's (3-2) | Lost to Angels (4-1) | X |
2003 | X | Lost to Yankees (3-1) | X | X |
2004 | X | Lost to Yankees (3-1) | X | X |
2006 | X | Lost to A's (3-2) | X | X |
2009 | X | Lost to Yankees (3-0) | X | X |
2010 | X | Lost to Yankees (3-0) | X | X |
2017 | Lost to Yankees | X | X | X |
2019 | X | Lost to Yankees (3-0) | X | X |
2020 | Lost to Astros (2-0) | X | X | X |
Things haven't always been depressing in October for the Minnesota Twins.
Minnesota has won two World Series, both of which came less than five years apart. The Twins won their first ever World Series title in 1987, beating the St. Louis Cardinals, and repeated in 1991 with an iconic win over the Atlanta Braves.
That 1991 World Series ranks among one of the best in baseball history, both for how epic the last two games were and for the context that it featured two teams that were last-place finishers the year before. It was the birth of the iconic Braves pitching rotation that would take Atlanta back to the World series and would dominate the 90s.
Meanwhile, Minnesota has never been back to the World Series and has only managed to win one more playoff series in the time since. The last series the Twins won was in 2002 when they defeated Oakland in the ALDS before getting beat by Anaheim in the ALCS.