There's a long-held belief in sports that winning solves everything.

In 2019, the Minnesota Twins are winning - a lot. 17 victories in the first 27 games of the season. Good enough for the lead in the American League Central and the third best record in all of Major League Baseball.

But despite all of the early success on the field, the Twins are losing at the turnstiles.

According to the Minneapolis StarTribune, in 14 home dates, an average of just 17,007 fans were turning up to watch the first place Twins at Target Field. That's down more than four thousand per game (21,072) from the first month of the 2018 season when the team began 9-15.

Half of this season's home dates have seen the smallest crowds in the ballpark's history.

That 19 percent decrease in attendance in Minneapolis isn't just bad by the team's standards, it's the second-biggest drop in the majors this season, behind the Toronto Blue Jays. Overall attendance at big league games is down about one percent so far in 2019.

The Twin Cities weather has certainly been a factor as only one of those 14 home games has been played in temperatures above 60 degrees. But Minnesotans are a hearty group that typically isn't deterred by a chill in the air.

A bigger issue might be the hangover from last year's underwhelming 78-win season which saw attendance drop to the lowest level since 2004.

If the Twins are still playing well when the weather warms up it's hard to believe that things won't pick up at the Target Field turnstiles.

If not, the team is on pace to draw less than 1.7 million fans for the first time in nearly 20 years.


More From KXRB