Minnesota Twins are a BIGGER Rival that the Cubs

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

I gotta inject a little life here on an otherwise uneventful monday...

Having attended the annual Brewers-Twins matchups the past few years in both Milwaukee and Minneapolis, i think its clear that Brewers-Twins is more hotly contested that Brewers-Scrubs. I think, in general, that the Brewers-Cubs gets way overhyped by the milwaukee media, with most of the "hype" being driven by cubs fans who happen to invade miller park and annoy the local fans. Not to say that Cubs-Brewers isn't a rivalry, but to be honest, the Cubs haven't won anything in forever. They are a big market team with a huge payroll that has stunk forever. If tickets to Miller Park weren't cheaper than Wrigley, i doubt we'd have so many northsiders up here, and i doubt this would even be discussed.

Brewers-Twins on the other hand is much more about the actual play ont the field, and not whose fans are more annoying. During the last "run" of Brewers teams in the late 80's and 1992, the Twins were the dominant team in baseball. We are both small market, but they have regularily had a winning record, have made the playoffs on a pretty consistant basis, and have two world series rings (granted none since 1991).

Despite the Bears-Packers people, Wisconsin-Minnesota is a MUCH bigger rivalry IMHO, and with the Twins being good and with the Brewers being the stepchild the past two decades, i'd say there is more venom in Brewers players to beat and shut up the Twins, than the Cubs. Just my opinion but i think the atmopshere is WAY better for Brewers-Twins than Brewers-Cubs, and i don't think its debatable that Twins fans are far more educated/classy basbeball fans than the northsiders.......

 

[jazzytrav]

I would have to agree with that. I met some pretty cool Twins fans the last time I was at the Metrodome. I'll be there for 2 games of the series at the end of June as well. I think the switch to the National League coupled with the fact that we mostly stunk in the American League made it hard for the rivalry to get any legs. I gotta be honest though...I have to will myself to go to the Metrodome. I can't wait until the new park goes up.

[rluzinski]

Twins fans are too nice to have them be our biggest rivalry. Now, the average Cub fan....

[TooLiveBrew]

Brewers-Twins on the other hand is much more about the actual play ont the field, and not whose fans are more annoying.

The Twins don't even play in the same league, let alone the same division. Yes, their fans are less annoying, but a rivalry (imo) comes down to what tangible impact the games have.

Not to say that Cubs-Brewers isn't a rivalry, but to be honest, the Cubs haven't won anything in forever. They are a big market team with a huge payroll that has stunk forever.

Except that division title in 2007, & that they've been the best team in the NL so far this season. Plus, they won the WC in 1998, & division titles in 1989, '84, & 2003. It seems to me that Brewers fans are starting to develop some 'small man' symptoms. I can admit it -- the Cubs are good, and have been a much better team than the Brewers in the last 10-15 seasons (over .500 7 times from 1993-on... not counting this season).

Just my opinion but i think the atmopshere is WAY better for Brewers-Twins than Brewers-Cubs, and i don't think its debatable that Twins fans are far more educated/classy basbeball fans than the northsiders

I couldn't agree more. The Twins rivalry is a nice one, and would be much bigger & more enjoyable had the Crew remained in the AL.

[Invader3K]

the Cubs haven't won anything in forever.

They won the NL Central last year. What were the Brewers doing last October? What have they done any October since '82?

 

Anyway, I disagree with your premise. There seems to be some bad blood between Brewers fans and Cubs fans. I can't say the same for Twins vs Brewers. I've been to the Metrodome and cheered the Brewers when they played there. The fans were very nice and well behaved. I can't say the same for many Cubs fans I've seen at Miller Park when the Cubs are in town. Also, you have to remember there are a lot of Cubs fans within the Milwaukee area...it's not just people coming up from Illinois to cheer them on. Throw in the fact that the two teams are top contenders in the same division, and I'd say it's a pretty big rivalry.

 

Personally, I think the "natural rivals" interleague play thing should be done away with. The Twins and Brewers didn't even play in the same division when they were in the AL together. Other than the fact that the two states border each other, there's not much basis for a rivalry. I mean, we get two series against the Twins every year...when was the last time the Brewers played the White Sox, who at one time had a huge rivalry with the Brewers in the AL?

 

 

[berniebrewer4life]

when was the last time the Brewers played the White Sox, who at one time had a huge rivalry with the Brewers in the AL?

 

2001 i believe was the last time we played the white sox.

[endaround]

Yep. The Brewers never cared about teh Twins while in the AL and only care about them now to pretend that big market Twins with a really cheap owner and the small market Brewers are similar.

[logan82]

I think if we competed against the Twins for anything that mattered, division title/wild card, it would be a big rivalry. There are so many other sports where Minnesota teams are our rivals(college sports) that it would be easy to add just one more sport to the list. At this point it is just a "friendly rivalry" since we only compete for 6 games and can forget about the Twins unless we both make the World Series.

[homer]

I think the rivalry was more heated after the whole Twins contraction rumor surfaced. Twin fans took it out on the Brewers since Bud and his cabal was still in charge of the team at the time.

[patrickgpe]

the problem is that we only play the twins 6 times a year, not 27. In addition since we are competing for the same division title (in theory) with the cubs they are the chief rival. Maybe if we moved back to the AL, it would be the twins.

[JohnBriggs12]

I think it all depends on what part of the state you are from. Frankly, growing up in eastern Wisconsin, I grew up being able to hear Cub broadcasts, and my family never ventured anywhere near Minnesota, while trips to Chicago were fairly common. The only dislike I had of the Twins were because the move of the Senators to Minnesota was a factor in declining attendence for my beloved Braves as those people in far off places (to me) like Eau Claire and LaCrosse apparently switched allegiances.

 

Since a significant majority of Wisconsin's population is centered in the corredor from Green Bay to Kenosha (far from Minnesota), I don' t think the Twins/Brewers rivalry will ever match a Milwaukee/Chicago rivalry.

[hawing]

Just my opinion but i think the atmosphere is WAY better for Brewers-Twins than Brewers-Cubs, and i don't think its debatable that Twins fans are far more educated/classy baseball fans than the northsiders.......

I'm inclined to agree. For what it's worth, though, I'll point out that the terrace level guest relations employees we know mentioned to us after last year's Twins series that they had more problems with fans during that series than they have during Cubs series.

I was surprised to hear that, since in my mind Cubs fans have long held the "gold standard" for bad behavior in Miller Park.

 

[crewcrazy]

I think it all depends on what part of the state you are from. Frankly, growing up in eastern Wisconsin, I grew up being able to hear Cub broadcasts, and my family never ventured anywhere near Minnesota, while trips to Chicago were fairly common. The only dislike I had of the Twins were because the move of the Senators to Minnesota was a factor in declining attendence for my beloved Braves as those people in far off places (to me) like Eau Claire and LaCrosse apparently switched allegiances.

 

Since a significant majority of Wisconsin's population is centered in the corredor from Green Bay to Kenosha (far from Minnesota), I don' t think the Twins/Brewers rivalry will ever match a Milwaukee/Chicago rivalry.

In my experience, everywhere south of La Crosse tends to be filled with more Cubs fans than Twins fans -- a lot of it has to do with Iowa being heavy duty Cubs country (due to the AAA team playing there), and the towns in Southwest Wisconsin are a lot closer to Iowa than they are to Minneapolis. While Northwest Wisconsin may have a lot of Twins fans, I think the Twin fan population in Wisconsin is a distant third to the Brewers and Cubs. That's another reason why I think a Twins rivalry never could be as big as a Cubs rivalry -- there's a ton of Cub fans that live in Wisconsin for various reasons (proximity to Chicago or Iowa, they adopted them as their "NL" team when the Brewers were in the AL, etc.).

[Invader3K]

Also, don't forget the fact that many people in Wisconsin became Cubs fans after the Braves left for Atlanta.

[sbrylski]

Twins fans are too nice to have them be our biggest rivalry. Now, the average Cub fan....

At Jenkins 200th HR game, I sat in the second row behind the dugout, best seats I've had since Seitzer. The Twin "supporters" behind me were the most annoying fans I have ever sat next to, and pretty much wrecked the whole experience. I did get on camera during Jenkins' curtain call, 16 feet away from me.

 

On average, you're right though.

[jnatro]

If anyone is looking for tickets for the Friday or Sunday Twins game at Miller Park, PM me. I have 4 together for each game in Section 421, Row 11. Looking for $14 each, which is less than marquee pricing. Thanks.

[JohnBriggs12]

Also, don't forget the fact that many people in Wisconsin became Cubs fans after the Braves left for Atlanta.

Many of the people who "became" Cub fans, were Cub fans prior the Braves coming to Milwaukee. But to me, they were all duped because I firmly believe it was Cub owner P.K. Wrigley who engineered the entire move of the Braves to Atlanta for the purpose of recapturing the Milwaukee market by recruiting the Chicago businessmen (Bartholomay, Reynolds, Searle, etc) to buy the Braves two years prior to the move. I hope Selig survives long enough to finally retire and reveal this in the book he's promised to write.

 

I know it's hard to believe, but the Cubs couldn't draw flies in the 1950's and early 60's. I'm certain that old Mr. Wrigley couldn't stand the fact that 90 miles north was a team filling up the ballpark with a lot of people who were once Cub fans.

While there are teams I dislike strongly like the Yankees, Dodgers and a few others, there are two teams I reserve the term hate for, the Cubs and the Braves.

[tristarscoop]

There is no Brewers/Twins rivalry. It's completely forced on us every year with InterLeague and is, IMO, a complete farce. I understand the theory - we tend to hate anything having to do with Minnesota (especially with the 872 "Visit Minnesota" commercials during every FSN broadcast)out of hand, but since there's absolutely nothing riding on these games and there's just a handful of them a season, it ends up just being a silly, overblown attempt at a "natural rivalry." We don't hate the Twins. We'd have to care about them first, which we don't do.

[cubfan1126]

I know it's hard to believe, but the Cubs couldn't draw flies in the 1950's and early 60's. I'm certain that old Mr. Wrigley couldn't stand the fact that 90 miles north was a team filling up the ballpark with a lot of people who were once Cub fans.

John, it's not hard to believe at all. And it was entirely the fault of the Wrigley family. All of those bleacher seats and all of those seats which are now called terrace used to go on sale the day of the game because William and then PK both said, "I want people to be able to wake up and decide to come to a game and be able to do so." Dallas Greene (GM at the time) implemented the pre-sale of those seats in the early 80's and THAT is when the sellouts started.

[homer]

"Dallas Greene (GM at the time) implemented the pre-sale of those seats in the early 80's and THAT is when the sellouts started."

 

 

I think a lot of it had to do with the gentrification of Wrigleyville as well. There's a lot of disposable income floating around that wasn't there in the 60's and 70's.

 

And JB - I've heard Mike North say the same thing about the Braves.

[MickeyDavis]

Yeah lots of Twinks fans come down here for the series and I can't blame them, wanting to see their team somewhere besides the Dumpty Dome.

 

But there is no way a team 300 miles away that plays in a different league is a bigger rival than a team 90 miles away who's in our division.

[RockCoCougars]

Many of the people who "became" Cub fans, were Cub fans prior the Braves coming to Milwaukee. But to me, they were all duped because I firmly believe it was Cub owner P.K. Wrigley who engineered the entire move of the Braves to Atlanta for the purpose of recapturing the Milwaukee market by recruiting the Chicago businessmen (Bartholomay, Reynolds, Searle, etc) to buy the Braves two years prior to the move.

That wouldn't surprise me in the least. Those guys were going to move the minute they bought the club. They cooked the team's books in the early 1960's to turn annual profits into losses. I've always wanted to dump a beer over Bartholomay's head.

 

On another note, having lived in Minnesota for a long time...the Minnesota-Wisconsin rivalry is a much bigger deal up there than it is down here in Southern Wisconsin. Not all Twins fans are "too nice" either, having attended several Brewers games up there I can attest. Plenty of obnoxious rubes.

[danzig6767]

But there is no way a team 300 miles away that plays in a different league is a bigger rival than a team 90 miles away who's in our division.

Yep

I don't give a crap about the Twins at all. At this moment without checking, i could only guess what the record is within 5 games . When i check the box scores at night, i check the Cubs/Cardinals/Astros first, then the rest of the NL. The only time i see whether the Twins won or lost is while browsing for the NL box scores, i happen to pass over the Twins score.

I'm going to the Twins game on Saturday and it has zero to do with it being the Twins. I'm going because i want to see the Brewers and because it's supposed to be nice out. I do hate the Vikings and hate Gopher Hockey teams though, but as for baseball, the Twins are just another AL team that i don't care squat about.

 

[moofnelson]

The Brewers and Twins weren't even big rivals when the Brewers were in the American League.

[Glennron]

Like others have side, Twins fans seem way too plain and subdued compared to Cubs fans. The Brewers play them just as often as they play the Marlins or the Diamondbacks, just because they're the bordering state doesn't really make it a big rivalry. I go to UW-La Crosse and know of a handful of kids who are both Vikings and Brewers fans, I'm not really sure why. Most of them are from Western or NW Wisconsin, though.