The 2025 season has been a waking nightmare for the Baltimore Orioles so far, with Friday night's shocking fall-from-ahead loss to the Washington Nationals dropping the team to 15-28 — the second-worst record in the AL ahead of only the lowly Chicago White Sox, and a full 10.5 games out of first in the AL East.
For a team that started the year with legitimate World Series aspirations, that was unacceptable, and something had to give. On Saturday afternoon, something did: According to ESPN's Jeff Passan, Baltimore has fired manager Brandon Hyde.
The team announced in a statement that third-base coach Tony Mansolino will take over as interim manager.
Hyde has come under heavy fire from O's fans during this slump, both for his in-game decisions — from lineup construction to his management of the team's shaky pitching staff — and for his often-baffling postgame quotes. Overall, it painted a picture of a man who had simply lost control of his clubhouse.
It's a shocking fall from grace for a man who just two years ago was named AL Manager of the Year. Hyde saw the Orioles through the depths of their long rebuild, guiding a young team to consecutive playoff berths in 2023 and 2024. But those berths resulted in a grand total of zero wins, and given how badly this season had started, the team clearly felt like a change was needed to try and salvage things.
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Orioles fire Brandon Hyde amid nightmare start to 2025
That said, Hyde was far from Baltimore's biggest problem this year. Yes, the O's bost an exciting core of young talent, highlighted by Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman and Jackson Holliday. But much of that core has been either injured or ineffective this season: Rutschman currently has a .654 OPS, while pitcher Grayson Rodriguez, infielder Jordan Westburg and outfielder Colton Cowser have spent all or most of the season so far on the IL.
And the front office hasn't exactly helped matters. Rather than using his cost-controlled core as a reason to get even more aggressive last offseason, GM Mike Elias opted to place it safe and fiddle on the margins instead. His lone offensive addition, Tyler O'Neill, has been a major flop so far, and a rash of pitching injuries have exposed his inexcusable decision to go cheap in the rotation — letting Corbin Burnes walk and replacing him with the likes of Charlie Morton and Kyle Gibson.
None of which lets Hyde off the hook for the things under his control. Some of his tactical decisions have been inexcusable, and more importantly, he doesn't seem capable of serving as a leader for a team in desperate need of one right now. The O's needed a shakeup and a new voice, and hopefully Mansolino will be able to provide them. But Hyde can't take better at-bats or throw better pitches; the reality is that this team simply isn't good enough right now, and no manager in the world was going to have them competing under the current circumstances.