For the second straight year, the Baltimore Orioles have been swept out of the playoffs after putting together solid results during the regular season.
In 2023, they had an incredible campaign by winning the AL West title and locking up the No. 1 seed in the American League that allowed them to skip the Wild Card round, and even though the Orioles weren’t able to repeat as division champions this year, they still won over 90 games and had the third-best record in the AL.
But unfortunately, the end result was the same.
Outside of Game 2 in the 2023 ALDS matchup, Baltimore hasn’t scored over two runs in the playoffs, averaging just one run per contest when taking out the eight they scored in this group’s second-ever postseason game.
Disappointing would be an understatement, and despite fans feeling good about where this team was at following the sweep in 2023, that sentiment has now changed into frustration after watching ugly performances at the plate for two years in a row.
General manager Mike Elias will have his hands full trying to construct a roster that can win games in October while still hoping their star youngsters continue to develop, something he acknowledged during his press conference on Thursday.
The executive also revealed the status of skipper Brandon Hyde, stating that he will be back in 2025 per Roch Kubatko of MASN.
Plenty of fans are frustrated with Hyde’s decisions during the latter part of the season and in the playoffs, but there was no way the Orioles were going to move off the 2023 AL Manager of the Year after winning the AL East last season and finishing runner-up this year while being decimated by injuries.
Where changes might come, though, is in other parts of the coaching staff.
According to Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner, Elias said “it’s too early” to make a blanket statement that all coaches will be back in 2025, and “an evaluation period for the whole organization will commence.”
There were some changes heading into this season when Drew French took over as the pitching coach, and there’s a chance some minor shakeups could happen again.
Perhaps Baltimore looks to make some changes to their offensive staff, namely regarding the roles held by offensive strategy coach Cody Asche, and co-hitting coaches Matt Borgschulte and Ryan Fuller.
What the Orioles have done the past two years during the regular season should also factor into the decision making, though.
In 2023, they finished seventh in runs scored (807), 17th in homers (183), seventh in RBI (780), 10th in batting average (.280), 16th in on-base percentage (.321), and 10th in slugging (.421).
Every single one of those metrics improved this year with them finishing fourth in runs scored (786), second in homers (235), fourth in RBI (759), seventh in batting average (.250), 11th in on-base percentage (.315), and third in slugging (.435).
Baltimore has improved on offense from one season to the other with Hyde at the helm, and even though the short sample size of these two playoffs series has been frustrating, that’s not enough to make Elias overreact.
A few tweaks will be needed and some changes could occur, but Hyde will be leading this team in 2025.
