I have never seen dominance that much between two teams. The regular season is one thing, but to keep losing in the playoffs, I present the Minnesota Twins.
Sixteen straight games they have lost. All but three against the New York Yankees. What gives? I attribute it to the thrashing they get from the Yankees and finding ways to mess up in the most critical moment of a game. Case in point: the 2017 Wild Card game. Up three to nothing in the first. Lose it that same inning on a three run home run. A number of extra inning games where they blow it. No power at the plate. No strong effort from their starters or relief pitchers. A recipe for disaster.
And it's not like it's a bad group of players. Decent pitching. Good bats in the lineup. Plenty of home runs. This is how you cobble together a good team from a mid-tier baseball group. The sad thing is that the Twins have had a lot of regular seasons success since 2002. The fans are loyal. Target Field is liked. What can more can you ask for? But they haven't been to a World Series since 1991 and in a competitive American League where things change in the Central, you don't know if you can hold on to a Wild Card spot or get the divisional crown.
Minnesota as a sports town has successful regular seasons. But the playoffs is a different story. The Vikings either get embarrassed or find ways to lose at the last minute. The Twins can't shake off the Yankees. With the Wild, the Western Conference of the NHL is loaded with very good teams. And the Timberwolves haven't been relevant in a long time with one playoff appearance in the last 14 seasons. What can it take for them to get past the hump in their own leagues? I don't know. Only time will tell, but all with the exception of the Timberwolves look primed to have strong years for a while.
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