A Look Back At Minnesota’s Playoff History Through The Years

When it comes to Minnesota's professional sports teams, and specifically the men's teams, there just hasn't been much winning.

Here is a look at the five major Minnesota professional sports teams and how they have fared in the postseason throughout their respective histories.

MINNESOTA TWINS (Since 1961)

Playoff series: 19
Series Wins: 6
Most recent series win: 2023
World Championships: 2 ('87, 91)

Not counting the years before the Twins moved to Minnesota in 1961, the Twins have made played in 19 playoff series beginning with a loss in the 1965 World Series against the Dodgers.

After back-to-back ALCS losses to the Orioles in 1969 and 1970, the Twins had a 17-year playoff drought before returning to the postseason in 1987. That season the Twins beat the Tigers in the ALCS and the Cardinals in the World Series.

The Twins returned to the playoffs in 1991 and again took home the world championship by beating Toronto in the ALCS and Atlanta in the World Series. After the 1991 title, there was another 11-year gap before the team again found itself in the postseason in 2002.

That season, the Twins beat the Oakland A's in the Wild Card round before falling to the eventual world champion Angels in the ALCS. That series loss began a skid of nine straight series losses which was finally snapped in 2023 with a Wild Card round win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

MINNESOTA VIKINGS (Since 1961) 

Playoff games: 53
Playoff wins: 21
Most recent playoff win: 2019
Super Bowl wins: 0

The Vikings made the NFL playoffs for the first time in 1967 and have qualified for the playoffs 32 times in the 58 seasons since then.

The Purple People Eaters made the Super Bowl in 1969, 1973, 1974 and 1976 but did not win any of them. The Vikings have been to six NFC Championship games since then but are 0-6 in them.

MINNESOTA WILD (Since 2000-2001)

Playoff series: 19
Series Wins: 5
Most Recent Series Win: 2026
Championships: 0

The Minnesota Wild advanced to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2015 when they beat the Dallas Stars in the quarterfinal round last week. The Wild's only Western Conference Finals appearance came in its third season (2002-2003).

MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES (Since 1989) 

Playoff Series: 21
Series Wins: 7
Most Recent Series Win: 2026
Championships: 0

The Timberwolves did not make the playoffs until their eighth season, then lost seven straight first round series before finally breaking through in the 2003-2004 season in which they reached the Western Conference Finals.

Following that run, the Wolves missed the playoffs for 14 straight seasons before returning in 2017-2018. Minnesota has made back-to-back Western Conference Finals the last two seasons but has still never played in an NBA Finals.

MINNESOTA LYNX (Since 1999) 

Playoff Series: 31
Series Wins: 19
Most Recent Series Win: 2025
Championships: 4

The Lynx are the gold standard for Minnesota sports success with four championships and seven WNBA Finals appearances despite their relative infancy.