Five reasons why the Minnesota Twins' season collapsed

Dating back to a month ago, it was a good time to be a Minnesota Twins fan. The Twins were on their way to making the postseason and had a double-digit lead in the American League Wild Card race.

While they weren't a perfect team, you could see enough to contend in a wide-open American League and perhaps advance to the American League Championship Series for the first time since 2002.

Fast forward to Friday night and it was a miserable time to be a Twins fan. With a 7-2 loss to the Baltimore Orioles, the Twins were officially eliminated from playoff contention and posted a 12-25 record in their final 37 games.

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Related: Twins eliminate themselves from playoff contention with dud vs. Orioles

The attention of most fans has scattered elsewhere but the Twins have to pick up the pieces. Why did the Twins go from a playoff lock to sitting on their couches in October? And what can they do to fix the problem?

Here are five reasons why the Twins collapsed and what they could do to fix the problem.

Carlos Correa's injury

This is a tired refrain for Twins fans who have watched Byron Buxton and Royce Lewis go down in the past several years but while both players missed extended time, Correa's absence was an even bigger issue.

The Twins were 54-42 when Correa was placed on the injured list after the All-Star break. Correa was also a big reason for the Twins' fast start as well, hitting .308/.377/520 with 13 homers and 47 RBI including .388/.441/.582 with five homers and 21 RBI during the month of June.

But the recurrence of plantar fasciitis, which Correa battled in the 2023 season, sunk the Twins. While they stayed afloat initially, Correa's absence extended into September and the defense went into the tank without him at shortstop.

Related: Carlos Correa to return to Twins lineup for first time in over 2 months

Some would question whether Correa could have returned sooner but after digging out the sole of a pair of New Balances just to get back on the field, Correa blamed himself after Friday's loss to the Orioles.

"I'll have to sit at home for a couple of days and just go through everything that happened in the year," Correa said. "If you have anybody to blame, blame me for going down for two months and not being part of the team. I think that's one of the main reasons."

Rocco Baldelli's decision making

It's hard to gauge how much Baldelli is at fault as his decisions are sometimes an extension of the front office. But Baldelli's decisions were strange and confusing for a team in a slump.

It started on Aug. 18 when Baldelli allowed Jorge Alcala to let a four-run lead evaporate in a 5-4 loss to the Texas Rangers. A few days later, Baldelli pulled Bailey Ober after six innings and Griffin Jax after 10 pitches before turning to Steven Okert, who allowed four runs in a 7-5 loss to the San Diego Padres.

This became a trend as Twins Daily's Andrew Luedke noted the Twins had lost eight games with an 80% win probability or higher since mid-August.

It's hard to tell whether Baldelli's decisions were based on analytics or sheer desperation at the end of the season. But Baldelli seemed to own the mistakes when talking to reporters on Friday.

"This will bother me forever," Baldelli said. "...I will think about it a lot and I will use it to motivate myself in a lot of different ways going forward, because I never want to experience that again."

Related: Twins News: Frustration boils over as Rocco Baldelli explains decision to pull Bailey Ober

A lack of depth

We could single out each part of the Twins but a common theme was the Twins didn't have the depth they had a year ago.

The Twins suffered plenty of injuries in their run to the American League Central Championship one year ago but they also had players to ride the current. While the Twins had Michael A. Taylor on their roster a year ago, Manuel Margot didn't have the same impact with a MLB record 0-for-30 mark as a pinch hitter.

Kyle Farmer fell off a cliff after a solid first season with the Twins and young rookies such as Brooks Lee and Austin Martin never seemed to get their feet set as they wilted in the heat of a pennant race.

There's also the pitching staff, which saw its own lack of depth. The Twins lost Sonny Gray in free agency and while Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober stepped into larger roles, they didn't have the horses to replace them at the bottom of the rotation as Chris Paddack and Louie Varland flamed out.

Rookies Simeon Woods Richardson, Zebby Matthews and David Festa tried to fill that void but they, too, crumbled as the Twins needed them in September.

Then there's the bullpen which shuffled all season long. Jay Jackson and Steven Okert were disasters and Jhoan Duran and Caleb Thielbar suffered a drop-off in their performance. Even the most consistent options in the pen couldn't perform by season's end and the Twins were down to the nub by the time they got to the end of the season.

The offense also went dark.

The Twins averaged just 3.7 runs over the final 37 games and put an extra strain on their pitching staff. While their pitching also crashed, the Twins offense, which had been a strength all year, slumped at the worst possible time.

This concurred with several players hitting the skids:

Ryan Jeffers was hitting .256/.345/.547 with 12 homers and 36 RBI over his first 51 games but hit .199/.262/.335 with eight homers and 26 RBI after June 1.

Royce Lewis smashed 15 home runs in his first 40 games but hit just two homers with a .295 slugging percentage over his final 41 games.

Willi Castro hit .266/.352/.422 with seven home runs and 10 stolen bases in the first half to earn his first career All-Star appearance but hit just .218/.298/.329 with five homers and four stolen bases in the second half.

There were also several young players that were counted on for big production that got off to slow starts including Matt Wallner and Edouard Julien.

The reduction in payroll

Twins fans braced for impact when the team announced they would be slashing payroll last November and their fears came true over the past couple of months.

The Twins didn't have the starting pitching or depth to make a playoff run and the front office whiffed on every cost-effective move they made to improve the team.

While payroll isn't the only reason for the Twins' demise, you can circle back to the decision to "right-size" the franchise last November as it hung a dark cloud over the team throughout the year.