Twins, Vikings win road games on same day for first time in 40 years

On Monday night, the two major Minnesota men's sports teams currently in action did something that hadn't happened in 40 years. 2,000 miles apart, the Vikings and Twins both won road games on the same day for the first time since September 15, 1985, according to OptaSTATS.

The Vikings (1-0) rallied for a 27-24 win over the Bears in Chicago thanks to three fourth-quarter touchdowns from quarterback J.J. McCarthy in his NFL debut. The Twins (64-80) got two home runs from Royce Lewis and tied their season-high in runs scored in a 12-3 win over the Angels in Anaheim.

One game had substantially higher stakes and substantially more viewership, but it's a pretty incredible statistic nonetheless.

40 years ago, the Vikings beat the Buccaneers 31-16 in Tampa and the Twins racked up 16 hits to support Bert Blyleven in a 5-2 win in Cleveland.

Monday was the second time the @Twins and @Vikings won on the road on the same day (reg or post).

The other came on September 15, 1985, when Minnesota rode the arms of Bert Blyleven and Tommy Kramer to victories at Cleveland and Tampa Bay, respectively. pic.twitter.com/G6dJaLkp4y
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) September 9, 2025

It's almost hard to believe that the two teams winning road games on the same day hadn't happened in 40 years. Then again, there aren't very many opportunities for it to happen, even before you consider the need to win two games away from home.

In the regular season, they share maybe 4-5 September (or very early October) dates per year, typically on Sundays. If you take the probability of playing a home or road game as 50 percent, the odds of both teams being on the road is just 25 percent. The teams also shared a home stadium, the Metrodome, from 1982 to 2009, which probably incentivized the league's schedule-makers to have one of the two at home on those shared dates as often as possible, since they couldn't play there at the same time.

And of course, both teams actually need to win, which has a 25 percent chance of happening if you view both games as 50/50 propositions (which road games often aren't). The postseason theoretically adds some opportunities to play on the same day, but the Twins have won only one road playoff game in the last 20 years.

Taking a look at their schedules in recent years, there aren't a ton of examples of both teams playing on the road on the same date. It happened once or twice a year in the previous seven years after not happening for six years before that.

9/8/24: Vikings win at Giants, Twins lose in Kansas City
10/1/23: Vikings win at Panthers, Twins lose regular season finale in Colorado
9/14/23: Twins beat White Sox in Chicago, Vikings lose on TNF in Philadelphia
9/19/22: Vikings lose in Philly, Twins lose in Cleveland
9/19/21: Vikings lose in Arizona, Twins lose in Toronto
9/20/20: Twins win at Cubs, Vikings lose at Colts
9/29/19: Vikings lose at Bears, Twins lose in Kansas City
9/15/19: Vikings lose in Green Bay, Twins lose in Cleveland
9/16/18: Twins win in Kansas City, Vikings TIE 29-29 in Green Bay
2012-17: No instances
9/11/11: Vikings lose in San Diego, Twins lose in Detroit

If you're curious, the next opportunity won't come until at least 2026. On the 28th of this month, the Twins will wrap up their season in Philadelphia and the Vikings will play the Steelers in Dublin, but that's essentially a neutral-site contest, not a true road game.

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