Gabbing w/ Gamble: Who is the Twins’ biggest rival?

Hello and welcome back again to our weekly discussion! Today, I’m running back a topic that we ran before last season, because my answer has changed and I suspect that many of yours have as well. Here’s the question: Who do you consider to be the biggest rival of the Twins?

Last season, I came to this conclusion on the topic:

“However, in my eyes, the Twins’ biggest rival lies outside the division. I harbor the most spite for ol’ New York, New York. The moneybag Yankees, who always seem to expel the plucky Minnesota squad from the playoffs. While the Twins don’t play the Yankees as often as their division foes, there’s no team that feels better to beat. There’s no team I’d rather see fail. In my eyes, that makes the Yankees the Twins’ biggest rival.”

(The Yankees also won the poll last year)

How fast things can change. After one season of suffering a Chicago White Sox fan-base who had an above .500 squad (for the first time since 2012), I’m ready to once again declare that, in my eyes, the White Sox are the Twins’ biggest rival. While most fan bases wouldn’t be so proud of a third-place finish, the nasty habit of the national media to crown them AL Central champs before the season (last year, and this year) has fed their madness. Don’t get me wrong, the White Sox have become a much improved squad over the past few years. However (as actual projection systems will tell you), the Central still runs through the Twins. I feel bad punching down on a third place team like this, but the fans give me no choice.

Besides the White Sox and Yankees, the Twins have had good competition with Cleveland and Detroit in the past years, so those are some other good options for “biggest rival”. If you’ve spent a lot of time on Jensen Lewis’ Twitter page, Cleveland is almost certainly your answer.

All in all, there’s no shortage of options to crown the biggest rival of the Twins. What’s your answer? What’s your reasoning? Let us know in the comments!