The Kansas City Blues were a charter member of a the Western League, a minor league at the time. Byron "Ban" Johnson, president of the Western League, changed the name to the American League in 1900 and major league status was awarded a year later. The Blues were champions of the Western League in 1898, taking the league by a game-and-a-half from the Indianapolis Hoosiers.

The Senators were officially the Nationals for more than 50 years, but so many fans called them the Senators that the team changed it's nickname in 1956. Even during the period 1907-1927, when their line up boasted the presence of Walter "The Big Train" Johnson the team were never terribly successful. During one portion of its history, the team was so notoriously inept that it inspired San Francisco Chronicle columnist Charley Dryden to joke: "Washington: First in war, first in peace, and last in the American League." (This was a play on Light Horse Harry Lee's remembrance of George Washington: "First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen.")

The "Minnesota" designation, instead of "Minneapolis", comes from the fact that the team is intended to represent the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul (and, presumably, the entire state). Prior to 1982, the team played its games at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, a suburb south of the Twin Cities. Today, the team plays in the Metrodome, which is in downtown Minneapolis, near the Mississippi River, and the Mall of America now occupies the spot where the Met once stood. The Twins defeated the Atlanta Braves to win the 1991 World Series and the St. Louis Cardinals to win the 1987 World Series. In 1965, they were defeated in the World Series by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

--Wikipedia