The more the losses piled up, the clearer it became to the Orioles that they only had one card to play.

Baltimore fired manager Brandon Hyde on Saturday in direct response to their disappointing start, an extended stretch of mediocrity that will soon be large enough that it can no longer be classified as a start. Hyde was the frontman for an organization with World Series aspirations and the results weren’t there.

As abject of a disaster the 2025 season has been — and make no mistake, this has been the worst-case scenario for the Orioles — the roots of Baltimore’s problems don’t trace back to the top step of the dugout. The rotation has been a disaster, the product of a rash of injuries and the club’s mostly unsuccessful foray into the free agent pitching market. A lineup bursting with young talent has repeatedly shrunk in the biggest moments.How much of the fault for that lies with Hyde? He didn’t assemble the pitching staff. Executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias and the Orioles’ front office had control over that. It’s fair to say a not-so-insignificant degree of fault lies with Hyde, as well as the hitting coaches, for the offense’s shortcomings, but he wasn’t exactly getting all the credit when their youth-laden lineup was one of baseball’s best the past two seasons either.

“As is sometimes the case in baseball, change becomes necessary, and we believe this is one of those moments,” Orioles owner David Rubenstein said in a team statement.

“As the head of baseball operations, the poor start to our season is ultimately my responsibility,” Elias added in his statement, released simultaneously. “Part of that responsibility is pursuing difficult changes in order to set a different course for the future.”

Baltimore is going in a different direction because it had to, not because Hyde was the problem — at least, not its biggest problem. Players insist the clubhouse was behind him the entire way, even now when their words about him would have no effect on their playing time or relationship with the man leading them into the dugout every day. Adley Rutschman and Cedric Mullins both fought back tears talking about him Saturday. The notion that he lost the clubhouse is a fallacy.

Without him, the onus now falls on the players to determine their success the rest of the season and the front office to chart a path forward at the trade deadline and beyond. Firing a manager 43 games into a season is an attempt to salvage it, not punt on it.

Tony Mansolino will take the reins as manager on an interim basis for the remainder of the season, but he’s jumping behind the wheel of a ship headed straight for an iceberg after five years of only manning the sails. The Orioles’ fate in 2025 depends on the players they have getting healthy and figuring out how to turn things around.

From there, it will be up to Elias to fix the mess that he’s had perhaps the biggest hand in creating. There’s not much he can do to improve the roster this season and the team much more closely resembles the look of a trade deadline seller rather than a buyer.

But the Orioles’ rotation next season currently consists of Grayson Rodriguez (injured), Kyle Bradish (injured), Tyler Wells (injured), Dean Kremer (5.36 ERA) and Cade Povich (5.23 ERA). The lineup might need some upgrades too with Mullins approaching free agency.

The steps this team takes to correct its mistakes and get back on course, one that was as promising as any team in baseball only a year ago, must be the right ones. Every year of the Orioles’ current competitive window is crucial, especially when the team still doesn’t have any of its core players signed to long-term contract extensions. There can be no more errors.

Hyde helped the Orioles to an American League East title in 2023 and a wild-card berth last season. By firing him, ownership and the front office sent a signal that they believe the team can return to those heights without him — whether that’s with Mansolino this season or someone else in 2026 and beyond.

They have other problems to fix first.

Have a news tip? Contact Matt Weyrich at mweyrich @baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/ByMattWeyrich and instagram.com/bymattweyrich.