Welcome to Snyder’s Soapbox! Here, I pontificate about matters related to Major League Baseball on a weekly basis. Some of the topics will be pressing matters, some might seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things, and most will be somewhere in between. The good thing about this website is that it’s free, and you are allowed to click away. If you stay, you’ll get smarter, though. That’s a money-back guarantee. Let’s get to it.
Maybe it’s because it’s so early in the season. Maybe it’s because the market is small. Maybe it’s because the team hasn’t been more relevant than others in its division in a long time.
Whatever the reason, I’m finding one of the things that bothers me most here in the early going is the relative lack of attention on what is going on with the Baltimore Orioles.
Entering Tuesday, the Orioles are 13-20. The only teams in baseball that are definitely worse than the Orioles are the White Sox and Rockies. Some might want to argue the Pirates or Marlins or Angels are worse, but we could all agree that it’s a toss up and they are all on the same tier.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Not in 2025.
Remember, when Mike Elias took over as general manager, he decided to try and emulate what happened with the Houston Astros, where he cut his teeth as a higher-up executive under Jeff Luhnow. The Astros have been one of the best organizations in baseball, in terms of consistent winning, for the past decade. It worked.
Did it work with the Orioles? We’re still in the process of finding out, but we cannot ignore the extreme rebuild. Again, it was the same formula the Astros used, basically: Bottom out and lose your ass off for years. Hope the fans will come back when you start winning again.
The Orioles in 2018 lost a franchise-record 115 games. In 2019, they lost 108 games. In 2021, they lost 110.
Those are the three highest loss totals in the history of the Baltimore Orioles. The St. Louis Browns lost 111 once, and that is technically the same franchise, but the Orioles had never lost more than 107 before Elias’ radical rebuild, during which they lost more than 107 in three straight full seasons.
This is a proud franchise with a great fan base. They were once a powerhouse. From 1964-83, the Orioles won at least 90 games 16 times in 19 full seasons. They had a losing record just once in that span. They won at least 100 games five times, making eight ALCS and six World Series, winning the World Series three times.
Things took a downward turn after that, yes. Remember that famous Sports Illustrated cover with Billy Ripken’s forehead against a bat while he looked all despondent? It said