It’s never easy to face the music for an unexpected outcome.

The Baltimore Orioles were supposed to contend for the World Series in 2025. While that still might happen, the O’s didn’t do themselves any favors in April, closing the month as basement dwellers in the American League East.

Orioles general manager Mike Elias hears the criticism.

He’s a critic himself, claiming the blame for Baltimore’s bad start. However, the man who put together this exciting young core of players is confident they’ll overcome a losing month to begin the season and get back into playoff contention.

“I’m really optimistic — and we’re optimistic — that we’re going to work out of that and things are going to get better,” Elias said, per Jake Rill. “We have a lot of faith in this very talented group.”

Much of this same talented group won 192 games over the past two seasons and made the playoffs both years. It’s anticipated that they’ll take the next step this year, and at the very least win a playoff series for the first time since 2014.

The bottom line is the Orioles have to play better. It sounds simple enough, but with injuries piling up and neither the pitching staff nor the lineup taking control, it’s been a constant battle for consistency through 31 games.

Questions about Brandon Hyde’s job security quashed by Mike Elias

Anytime a team underperforms, the manager’s future job status becomes a topic of conversation. Brandon Hyde has been the only manager during Elias’ tenure as general manager, and the latter does not foresee any changes to that.

Elias said he is “very confident” in Hyde’s leadership and lauded the skipper’s ability to maintain the same approach despite negative results. There’s no current worry that Hyde has lost the clubhouse. Winning would certainly diminish any further speculation about that and the manager’s job security.

Hyde didn’t mince words when discussing his team’s view of the 2025 season so far.

“Nobody’s happy with how we’ve performed so far. We have higher expectations for ourselves,” Hyde said. “We’re not satisfied in the least bit. We know our team can play better than we have.”

The Orioles have played better lately, winning two of three against the New York Yankees before taking the series opener over the Kansas City Royals Friday night.

Three wins in four isn’t enough to declare Baltimore on the comeback trail. It’s a start, though, one that comes with a light May schedule that can do some favors for the O’s.

Elias spoke candidly before Friday’s game and expressed his and the team’s frustrations. He took the blame for Baltimore’s worst 30-game start since 2019, and he’ll have to face the noise if the team doesn’t improve. If the Orioles don’t get out of last place in the AL East, Elias and Hyde could both be looking for new jobs.