Why Are Minnesota Men’s Pro Sports Teams So… Average?

Forever mid.

If Minnesota men's sports teams had a tombstone, that would be on it. Rarely truly horrible, never truly great... we just kind of hang around every season.

It could be, and has been, worse. Our teams in Minnesota are always competitive and they each have star power with players like Anthony Edwards, Justin Jefferson, Royce Lewis and Kirill Kaprizov, making them fun teams to watch and follow.

But, when was the last time a Minnesota team went into a season as the favorite- the team to beat? I honestly don't remember it happening in my lifetime.

The last couple of years have actually been pretty decent by Minnesota sports standards. The Timberwolves made it to the Western Conference Finals in 2024, the Twins won a playoff series for the first time since 2002 a couple seasons ago and the Vikings had a great season before being dispatched in the opening round of the playoffs in 2025.

The Wolves have won four playoff series in team history, which began in 1989, the Wild has won four playoff series since 2001 (and hasn't won one since 2015), the Twins have won just that one series since 2002 and the Vikings are 2-6 in the playoffs since 2012.

My theory as to why we never hit the peaks of the Kansas City Chiefs or the valleys of the Pittsburgh Pirates is simple: we just aren't bad enough to acquire top talent in the draft.  Anecdotally, it seems like the four men's pro teams in town always pick in the middle of the draft. So I decided to do some "math*."

*- math is not my strong suit

In the last ten drafts (nine picks, the Wild didn't have a first round pick in 2017), the Minnesota Wild have picked, on average, 14th in the first round.

The Twins' first round pick, on average, in the last ten years is at 15th, with the Vikings first round pick usually falls around 21st or 22nd.

The Minnesota Timberwolves have picked, on average, 10th by my math. However, the Wolves were a bit harder to get a solid number on due to the trading of picks and seasons with no first round picks.

Please don't misunderstand me, I have no interest in watching a team 'tank' in order to move up in the draft for a couple of seasons. While the strategy has worked in the past for some teams, the teams stuck in a never-ending rebuild outnumber them two-to-one.

I also recognize that Justin Jefferson was drafted 22nd and that Kaprizov was a fifth round pick, so my theory is not without holes.

I am just looking for an explanation as to why we can never seem to have a team quite get over the hump, and outside of some kind of Brady Bunch tiki statue curse, the draft thing makes the most sense to me.