Michael Rand's five things to watch this week

• It's the last week of the regular season for the Twins — just six more games in a season with 162 of them. On the Twins' to-do list during trips to Detroit and Kansas City are two agenda items: 1) Most important, of course, finish off the AL Central Division title, which would be their first since 2010. 2) See if they can reach 100 victories for just the second time in franchise history and first since 1965.

• If you have playoff fever, don't look past Minnesota United. The Loons are in good shape to reach the Major League Soccer postseason for the first time in their three years in the league. Hosting a first-round match, though, will require some work to be done. Two huge home matches Wednesday and Sunday at Allianz Field will likely determine their fate.

• The Gophers women's hockey team has reached the NCAA Frozen Four in 14 of the past 18 seasons. That sort of consistent excellence has made the Gophers one of the best stories in town, and they'll resume their pursuit of another trip when they open the regular season at Ridder Arena on Friday with a home series vs. Colgate.

• The Gophers football team has needed late comebacks in each game to arrive at its 3-0 record. But wins are wins, and nobody will remember the lack of style points in those games if Minnesota steps up its play and continues winning in the Big Ten. The first chance is Saturday at Purdue.

• The pattern so far this season for the Vikings has been routine home win … disappointing road loss at division foe … routine home win. Suffice to say, the Vikings would like to break that pattern in a big way Sunday when they travel to Chicago to face the Bears. The Vikings have only won in Chicago twice this decade: 2015 and 2017, Mike Zimmer's division-winning seasons.