#-1: Twins (Last Week: -3). Hmmm. This week was a tough one. There were bad points last week for all five entries, and the Twinks did start off by losing a series at Target Field over the weekend to the Bastard Philadelphia/Kansas City Athletics.
However, being the first team in Major League Baseball to clinch their division, thereby getting into the playoffs for the sixth time in nine years, is a major accomplishment. I put them above all this WMNSS because, unlike years previous, they don't need to go to a Game 163, not even need to sweat it out the final week of the season, in order to clinch a berth in the playoffs.
Now, that doesn't necessarily mean anything more than Manager Ron Gardenhire having a little time to rest the players who may be burned out, give some more playing time to reserves, September call-ups and guys who need to sharphen their skills, and to rejigger the rotation to his liking (Francisco Liriano will start the first playoff game regardless; the commonsense choice, though there is room for argument). Momentum really means very little in postseason sports. And having the top seed in the American League -- which, technically, if I'm not incorrect about this, the Twins currently have by a half-game as of right now because the New York Yankees lost to the Tampa Bay Rays -- seems to be more a blessing than a curse: According to SI.com's Joe Sheehan, the top seed in both leagues have reached the World Series 8 out of 24 tries since 1998, a rate of, obviously, 33%. So while it would be nice, I wouldn't mind if the team lost out on top seed so long as the team is as good it can be heading into the postseason.
They play all seven days this week. They try to maintain, uh, momentum they started after sweeping Cleveland during the week by playing this weekend at Detroit, then playing three games at Kansas City, before opening up the last home series of the regular season Thursday against Toronto.
#-2: Gopher soccer (Last Week: -1). I've had to do some new evaluating of this squad. I've said it before, but I need to say it again, to myself: This team hasn't lost since their opening game of the season on Aug. 20. That's impressive. Now, whether I'm inflating the squad's strength in the face of the fact that the Gophs are ranked in the lower reaches of both women's soccer polls, is possible. But even if that speaks to the perception of a weak Big Ten, going into conference play 8-1-1 makes them solid contenders to take the conference title and get into the NCAA Tournament.
Which is why I couldn't put this team #-1 in this week's poll after last (Thursday) night's 1-1 tie at Iowa, a team not considered to be a contender. It's on the road, and it is soccer, but still, I thought this team would go out and win the game considering the records both teams brought into the game. At least they didn't lose, I guess. Also, Forward Steph Brandt was named conference Freshman of the Week.
The Gopher female footballers' next game may be for the title -- they host the only other ranked team in the Big Ten (at least as of right now), Illinois, Sunday afternoon. It's the first of a three-game homestand, for they then face Wisconsin at Robbie Stadium Thursday night. I might go to that game.
#-3: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -2). These ladies keep slip-sliding down the AVCA Top 25. Only this week can I believe it makes any sense. The team suffered their second loss of the year this past Saturday to then 23rd-ranked, now 21st-ranked San Diego in five sets. Worse yet, they lost the match after winning the first two sets. It's the first time the team choked away a 2-0 set lead and lost in three seasons. Ouch.
It may be may, and it may be that the conference play is only starting this week, but right now there are a lot of teams in Division I volleyball who are undefeated or only have one loss. That might be the major reason why the Gophers dropped two spots to #14 this week. Can they turn it around as they begin Big Ten play at the Michigan schools tonight (Friday night) and Saturday?
#-4: Gopher football (Last Week: -4). I think I have a new definition of a moral victory, odious it may be to take one: If you lose but cover the spread, that's a moral victory. I think most of the lines had the Gophs getting 12 points from USC, and they lost, 32-21. Only 11 points.
Still, there is a tangible sense that this is yet another lost season. They face Northern Illinois, a Mid-American Conference which has already lost to doormats Illinois and Iowa St., and barely beat North Dakota for its only win of the season. This is no gimme.
#-5: Wild (Re-Entry!). Why is pro hockey on the WMNSS when the games don't count until the beginning of October? I was not aware of the possibility until it happened. But on Wednesday night, the first game of the year, a 5-1 exhibition loss to St. Louis, marked a very troubling milestone: It was the first game in the history of the franchise that the Wild did not sell out the Xcel Energy Center. A streak that began when the team began ended after 409 straight games, pre-, regular- and post-season.
I already wrote about this, but I'm taking it a lot harder than most others. While it's true that rarely is a sellout a sellout -- there is always a seat or two empty most regular season games -- and that the Wild always give tickets to employees to distribute to family and friends -- especially the past few seasons, when they've sucked -- this still is an ignominious and disturbing sign. They've "sold out" for almost a decade (they were six days short of reaching ten full years) because there was such a pent-up demand for hockey ever since the North Stars were stolen from us. Although the Wild didn't deserve it, we showed up game after game because not only we wanted hockey back, but we wanted to make sure we didn't lose this team, too. The combination of The Great Recession and successive mediocre seasons have finally meant the honeymoon is over and, more tellingly, they will not just put blind faith in this team anymore. The Wild need to earn back our trust, but I bow my head that the Wild are now treated with the same skepticism as the Timberwolves. The death of the sellout streak represents a loss of innocence.
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