Carlos Correa takes the blame for Twins historic meltdown

While the season is a marathon, it took the Minnesota Twins 160 games to squeeze themselves out of the playoff picture.

Minnesota crashed out on Friday night, losing 7-2 to the Baltimore Orioles and handing the final AL Wild Card spot to the Kansas City Royals. It's the culmination of one of the worst collapses not only in franchise history but in recent memory throughout the league. At one point in mid-August the Twins were 3.5 games away from chasing down the Cleveland Guardians for a top seed, but just 40 days later were eliminated.

Now comes the part where the Twins sift through the rubble of their wrecked season to determine what needs to change for next year. Rocco Baldelli is firmly on the hot seat, ownership has already been fired into the sun by fans, and players are being forced to look at themselves and ask how this happened.

For Carlos Correa, the meltdown wasn't entirely his fault but he's already willing to fall on the sword and take the blame for the meltdown.

Carlos Correa takes blame for the way Twins flamed out during historic collapse

After the Twins were eliminated from the playoff contention, Correa spoke to the media and asked if fingers are going to be pointed than they should be directed his way.

"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 a part of the team. I think that’s one of the main reasons."

This is noble, mostly because it's a pretty clear deflection from his teammates in the clubhouse. Nothing went right for the Twins down the stretch but the overwhelming consensus seems to be that Correa was not part of the problem. He missed two months with a foot injury and likely came back sooner than he should have in order to help his team.

Not only did that result in him instantly becoming one of the best in the lineup, but he outplayed most guys while being on just one foot. It was too little too late, but the idea that Correa is responsible for what happened is terribly misguided.

If anything, this is yet another reason why he's worth every penny of the $200 million contract he signed a year ago. He proved his worth when times were good, like the ALDS last season, and is now doing the same thing when things aren't so great.

He could have easily given some generic quote about how everyone needs to play better, but calling himself out before everyone else is exactly the type of leadership the Twins need at time like this.

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