Baldelli, Twins lament epic collapse after missing playoffs

It might be a while until the Minnesota Twins get the terrible taste of the 2024 campaign out of their mouth after completing a stunning collapse by getting eliminated from the postseason race Friday.

"This will bother me forever," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said following a 7-2 loss to the Baltimore Orioles, according to MLB.com's Do-Hyoung Park.

"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."

The Twins led the now playoff-bound Detroit Tigers by 11 games on Aug. 10 but went 12-25 over their last 37 contests to find themselves outside the playoff picture.

Minnesota posted MLB's third-worst record during its downward spiral, ahead of only the Los Angeles Angels and 121-loss Chicago White Sox.

The club's once-vaunted offense hit the skids in September, ranking in the bottom five in OPS (.624), wRC+ (78), and home runs (18) in the month. The Twins plummeted down the standings along with their stats as they occupied the second AL wild-card spot with a 5 1/2 game lead over the Tigers as recently as Sept. 5.

"I ran out of gas," third baseman Royce Lewis said. "I'm trying my best. It's a different grind."

Minnesota entered the 2024 season as the presumed favorite to win its second straight AL Central title. However, the Twins sit fourth in a division that'll send three teams to the playoffs.

"Everybody runs out of gas at the end of the year," star Carlos Correa said.

"The season is damn long. The guys that stay resilient and the guys that stay strong mentally are the guys that succeed. We did not do any of those things. Being tired is an excuse that's not valid at this point."