The blessing of lowered expectations

 Being a Minnesota sports fan is a constant struggle. Being a Twins fan may be the hardest of all, but then, is it tough having low expectations and meeting them, or having high expectations and getting a punch in the gut? 

Low expectations might actually be saving Minnesota Twins fans' collective health, frankly. A lot of people have prognosticated a bad Twins season because of one of the worst bullpens ever seen. The pen has been protected because of good starting pitching thus far, but make no mistake: It's bad. 

Aside from that, the Twins are in contention. The AL Central is miserable, and it isn't getting any better. The Twins are 7-3 against their division, and 6-1 against Cleveland and Detroit. They have also been scoring runs: the 9th most in baseball. The starters have the 8th best WAR in the game. The Twins, again, aside from the bullpen, have been good.

And they keep getting hurt.

Of those good pitchers, Two are now on the shelf - Mick Abel and Taj Bradley are hurt. Simeon Woods-Richardson has fallen on hard times recently, and Joe Ryan has had some injury scares. Can you imagine how much those things would bother us if we looked at their offense and rotation instead of the bullpen and our preseason expectations?

I am only half kidding when I say that our pessimism is helping us out. We aren't necessarily disappointed in the sub-500 record, because we didn't expect anything better. Some people are thinking that this might even be the apex of their season. Having two above average units and still remaining out of the postseason will sting a little less if we didn't think they would be there anyways.

In my opinion, that is easier to cope with than what happened to the Wild. 

The Wild are the Twins on ice

Have you heard about the team in Minnesota that hasn't made it to their league's championship series since the early 2000s? Well, maybe you have heard that they had a very good start to the season this year, but, owing in large part to injuries (but perhaps also to a less than active trade deadline), they are cratering as the season winds to a close.

No, not that team.

The team who is having some payroll constraints as they try to build around a young core? You know the team with the electric young talent who was injured, along with the career long player at center in a Minnesota uniform that also keeps getting injured?

No, no, not that team.

I'm talking about the team with the home town kid that wears #7, and will probably wear too much of the burden if things don't go Minnesota's way while he is in town, even though the real problem is the organization and the fact that the town has been cursed since 1991? 

The Wild and the Twins share so much in common. Even as the season draws near a close for the Wild, and it is soon to begin for the Twins, it appears as though their paths may diverge. The cap in the NHL will go up, coinciding with Ryan Suter and Zach Parise's deals coming off the books. In theory, the Wild will be bigger spenders, and their core will get the support it deserves from the free agent market. 

That said, we also heard about the Twins TV rights being out for bid, and look how that turned out. And that the team was on the verge of being sold, and look how that turned out. Hopefully this is where the Wild diverge course from the Twins, but I'll believe it when I see it. 

Minnesota might win something

 

It's been a long hard slog for Minnesota sports for the last 30 years, punctuated only by a blazing hot streak from the Lynx since the Twins won the World Series in 1991. But alas, it's been pretty bleak otherwise.

This year, the Minnesota Wild's Jared Spurgeon might be giving Minnesota sports fans something to hang their hats on, take pride in and otherwise boast about. Yes, the Wild captain is a finalist for the Lady Byng Trophy. 

The Byng is awarded to the player who has portrayed the most gentlemanly conduct on the ice in the previous season. It is important to note that there is no statistical benchmark for this award, and doesn't have a lot to do with the success of a team or the particular players, but it does highlight I don't know, holding doors open during line changes? 

Whatever the case may be, it seems that Spurgeon is "playing the game the right way" and it would be nice to have literally any trophy in the trophy case for the state, so chant it with me be, friends.

SPORTS- MAN - SHIP! SPORTS - MAN - SHIP! SPORTS - MAN - SHIP! WOOO!

Different teams, different crossroads

The trade deadline, fast approaching in Major League Baseball, is often about patching up holes as teams make runs at the playoffs, while lesser teams try to get lucky with a prospect or draft pick, rather than letting their better players go. In the summer, the teams are interested in retooling for the long haul.

This is where the biggest trades tend to happen, when franchise cornerstones are moved. There haven't been too many big moves this off-season, given how so many teams are using the Vegas Golden Knights to alleviate salary cap issues, but I suspect that will change in the next few weeks.

The Wild have a stated goal of getting at least one more NHL quality pivot after they flamed out, unable to score nearly as much as they needed against the St. Louis Blues and Brian Elliott. The Wild are very nearly at the talent crest of their core, and after extending Nino Niederreiter and Mikael Granlund, would do well to ensure that whatever piece they do lock up will be one that will help them win in the near term.

The Wild have already attempted to free up some space under the cap, and have added physical wingers in Tyler Ennis and Marcus Foligno, but they would do well to explore trades with teams that are still up and coming. With a deep, young defensive unit, dealing a defensemen in order to add a center would seem like a good investment.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are one of those up and coming teams, and they have the talented James van Riemsdyk entering the final year of a contract on a team with a young core that is still a couple of years away. This is a team that could use a more stable presence on the blue line in support of all the firepower at the forward positions. Van Riemsdyk spends his offseasons in Minnesota, and would undoubtedly appreciate a move to the Wild, if one came about, and the Leafs, lkely to lose him anyway, would appreciate some sort of return, especially the type that the Wild could offer.

These are two teams, the Wild and Maple Leafs, that are reaching a critical juncture. The Wild need to get over the top, while the Maple Leafs need to tool up to continue their momentum as the team develops and gets better. Both may pair up at some point in the off-season, though even if a move for 30 goal scorer van Riemsdyk doesn't happen, you can be sure both teams are working hard to achieve the goals that such a move would achieve.