It was Easter Sunday, a day usually filled with happiness. But for the Baltimore Orioles, the baseball gods had another kind of show on schedule. To their shock, the Cincinnati Reds defeated them 24–2. This marked one of the worst losses in Orioles history, leaving both fans and players struggling to process what had happened.

The game unraveled quickly, with the Reds unleashing an apparently unrelenting offensive onslaught. Cincinnati racked up 25 hits and 11 walks by the end;  every starter recorded at least one hit, run, and RBI. The Orioles’ poor control of the barrage resulted in an embarrassing outcome. Was the manager disappointed? Oh, it’s more than that, you’ll see!

In the postgame remarks, manager Brandon Hyde’s disappointment was unmistakable. “It’s embarrassing. It’s not what you want to do on Easter Sunday in front of your home crowd. You want to compete,” he said. His candor echoed the feelings of the fans who had witnessed the collapse firsthand. Hyde didn’t hold back when asked about the bullpen.

Hyde said that the idea of using position players to pitch after pulling Charlie Morton in the third inning wasn’t considered at that point. “Not at that point,” said Hyde. “It was 6-1. My hope was that Cody Poteet could provide three to four innings. If we were still competitive, I had other bullpen options in mind.”

Signed in the offseason to bolster the rotation, veteran pitcher Morton lasted just 2 1/3 innings and turned over seven earned runs. His early exit forced the Orioles to rely heavily on their already overtaxed bullpen. Cody Poteet and Cionel Perez let the tide run wild, allowing eight runs overall.

Desperate, the Orioles turned to position players Gary Sanchez and Jorge Mateo to pitch the final two innings. Mateo gave up five runs in the eighth; Sanchez allowed four in the ninth, including a three-run homer to Austin Wynns. Meanwhile, the Orioles’ offense failed to offer any respite even as the pitching crew stumbled. Baltimore just scored seven hits and two runs; one of them came from an Adley Rutschman solo homer in the eighth. The lack of offense only highlighted the team’s struggles on both sides of the ball. 

Do you know? Sadly, the club has seen such storms before, permanently engraving a couple of really lopsided losses into its record.

Orioles’ 24–2 loss: A historic low in MLB blowouts

The Orioles’ 24–2 defeat to the Reds stands among the most lopsided losses in modern Major League Baseball, with its 22-run margin tied for the seventh-largest in history. Notably, the Orioles have just fallen on the losing end of two of the top 10 most significant losses in league history.

The most infamous came on August 22, 2007, when the Texas Rangers overpowered the Orioles 30–3. With the Rangers scoring 30 runs—the most any team has since 1897—this game set the contemporary MLB record for the highest margin of victory. The Orioles’ pitching staff surrendered 29 hits and was unable to stop the relentless attack.

In terms of defensive breakdown and offensive ineptitude, the Orioles’ latest 24–2 loss mirrors the 2007 disaster. The Orioles’ pitching staff in both games failed to turn the tide, resulting in historically significant losses. These defeats draw attention to recurring problems with the team’s roster building and in-game strategy.

Such blowouts are unusual historically, but not unheard of. For example, the Cleveland Indians crushed the Boston Red Sox 27–3 in 1923 and the St. Louis Browns 29–4 in 1950. However, the Orioles’ frequent appearances in these records suggest a troubling trend that must be addressed to prevent further humiliations.

As the season unfolds, it will be interesting to see if they record more losses in their history books. Or they will bounce back!