In one sense, the Baltimore Orioles' decision to fire manager Brandon Hyde on Saturday afternoon was a shocking decision; this is the same man who was named AL Manager of the Year just two years ago, after all. But in another sense, it makes all the sense in the world: Baltimore is in the midst of a nightmare start to the 2025 season, and their latest lowlight — a fall-from-ahead loss to the Washington Nationals that dropped the team to 15-28 on the year, ahead of only the Chicago White Sox in the AL standings — felt like a new rock bottom.
Despite putting 18 men on base on Friday, Baltimore somehow managed to score just three runs, keeping Washington in the game long enough for the Nats to steal a win with a run in the eighth and another in the ninth. But it wasn't just the way that the team lost that likely sealed Hyde's fate. It was the way he responded to it afterward, more or less admitting to the media that he was all out of answers.
"I'm kind of in disbelief, honestly." That was Hyde's reaction to Baltimore's latest loss, according to Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner.
On the one hand, it's hard to blame him; it was a truly stupefying loss, like watching a car crash slowly play out over two-plus hours but being powerless to stop it. But while that's an understandable reaction for a fan to have, it's the sort of thing you absolutely cannot say as the manager of a Major League team.
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Brandon Hyde's reaction to latest Orioles loss told Baltimore all it needed to hear
Seriously, how did Hyde expect to come back from that? How are his players supposed to keep giving their all for him after he just publicly threw his hands up? How are front office and ownership supposed to put their faith in a man who seemingly has no idea how to fix what's wrong with this team?
Of course, no team decides to fire its manager based on a single mistake or one bad quote; this has been the culmination of some nine months of frustration, dating back to the team's flameout in the AL Wild Card Round last year. But it can't be a coincidence that Baltimore decided to make this move now, on the heels of one of the most unintentionally embarrassing quotes of the 2025 season.
Hyde needed something to turn the tide, a way to convince both his players and his bosses that he still had the cache in the clubhouse to right this ship. Instead, he did ... basically the exact opposite of that, reacting the way every other Orioles fan did to Saturday's loss. The problem, though, is that he isn't a fan; he's not allowed to be in disbelief, not when it's his job to fix things.