No Jim, the Wild return to the playoffs this spring/2013, the Vikings play in the playoffs this January/2013 and the TWolves make it May of 2013. The only team waiting will be the Twins until they get new management.

This may be an accurate ranking, but it would look quite a bit differently if we were trying to predict who would win a champion ship first. In that ranking, it would go as follows: 4. Timberwolves. Although this team is close to being playoff caliber, they are going to be outclassed by an equally young Oklahoma City team for the next decade. The Wolves have virtually no chance of winning a title. 3. Vikings. Not much to say here. Even when management fields a competitive team, the Vikings always choke in the biggest games. Always. 2. Twins. The Twins are probably furthest away from a playoff berth, but they play in a league where any team that makes the playoffs can get hot and go all the way. After a period of a few years, I expect Terry Ryan will get this team back to being strong from A ball right through the big leagues. 1. Wild. The Wild are the most likely Minnesota team to next win a title not just because anything can happen in the Stanley Cup Playoffs (as we saw this year with the 8 seed Kings going all the way). The Wild organization is stacked with discernible young talent. A lot has to go wrong for this team to not be really strong in a couple years.

The teams are not "based in Minnesota," but in the Twin Cities. Not a small point ... because one can have lesser expectations of a rural franchise as opposed to one that sits in the midst of the nation's 16th largest metropolitan area. Big cities tend to demand results, while rural areas are thrilled just be in the game. Even Minnesota Nice (sometimes known as Minnesota-nice-and stupid) is used against its sophisticated, urban fan base. Let's start by insisting that niceness is not to be expected when our franchises fail. If owners want an endless stream of nice, they should have located their clubs in place like Winona or Blue Earth! Those towns are known for nice. Most Twin Citians are a-holes in one way or another. A-holes usually get better results. Every team that plays in the Twin Cities should be required to display their own version of the T.C. somewhere on their uniforms. They need to take pride in the metro they represent; that might rub off on the players.

How the Wild aren't #1 and expected to make the playoffs this next season is beyond me! The Wild were not only contending for a playoff spot, but were atop the entire NHL in DECEMBER before they finally got overwhelmed with injuries, and their lack of organizational depth came back to haunt them. With 7 players turning pro this season, the Wild will be in much better position if something similar were to occur - ie, you wouldn't see Warren Peters centering the top line! The Wild are playoff spot contenders this season, even before free agency has arrived.

Wild is definetly 4th and will never make playoffs. They have their fans who enjoy failure and substandard play- Wild knows these dupes will keep showing up at X and keep paying! The other 3 major sports clubs are tied for 3rd in probablility of making playoffs. Nobody in the MN sports scene will make playoffs for 5 years. Deal with it.

The Vikings now can get better because they now know where they will play.I really believe that the stadium issue had an adverse effect to the team's on the field performance last season.This also hurt the support they had from fans.Those most happy about the stadium has got to be the Viking players.They can get back to thinking about football again.

Hey minneg56, Twins fans are just as blind to reality, if not more than the Wild's fans. The attendance at the Xcel has been in decline the last few years while Target Field keeps getting filled. Fan loyalty and greedy ownership creates the scenario where winning is just an afterthought.

Or the Twins could take a shortcut and just buy a couple of good starting pitchers and make the playoffs next season. Ditto for the Vikes, who also have a deep pockets owner who can afford to purchase some talent. They have good young team needing only a few key veterans. The Twolves are only two top players from contending and also have a billionaire owner who turned around his Lynx into world champions overnight by buying Whalen and getting some scorers. Hockey is up for grabs every season and anything can happen with a hot goalie.

One thing people seem to forget with any of the pro sports teams become "contenders" by spending freely in the free agent market is that the top tier free agents do not want to play in Minnesota.