Inside Orioles' Yankee Stadium Meltdown: What Went Wrong?
About five hours before the Orioles let another game slip away, took a 12-1 loss to the Yankees and heard John Sterling's iconic, "The Yankees win" that leads into Frank Sinatra's playing "New York, New York," manager Craig Albernaz was getting inquiries about it being a critical juncture point and about fans possibly starting to abandon hope.
"If you want to jump ship, you can jump ship, but don't ask to come back on," Albernaz said in a joking manner to one of the Orioles beat writers.
"It's a long season, but we're going about the process each and every day. The last four games have been tough, but it's been four games. Every loss, it stinks to lose, no matter what it is. You want to go back out the next day and get back to work and try to win that game in front of you."
Those comments were made when the Orioles were on a four-game losing streak. A little over two hours later, the Orioles were already losing and allowed nine of the 12 runs in the final three innings, after conceding a seven-run eighth.
Those comments were also made out of experience. A year ago, Albernaz was the bench coach for Stephen Vogt with the Guardians, and he was hired in Baltimore after his previous team overcame a 15 1/2-game deficit in the AL Central over the final two-plus months.
Orioles: Similar Start as Last Season
If everything was going to plan, the Orioles would not have 12 players on the injured list, Pete Alonso would not be hitting .215, and this season would be similar to the two campaigns that preceded last year's 75-win finish campaign, which cost manager Brandon Hyde his job nearly a year ago, shortly after a 2-14 skid.
Instead, nothing went well for the Orioles, who left Yankee Stadium after being outscored 39-10 in a series they never led. The pitching was so ineffective, especially in the late innings, that the team ERA rose by 57 points to 4.96, a figure that enters Tuesday as the third-worst in baseball, only ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Houston Astros.
In a fitting coda to how the series unfolded a position player recorded the final out after Lou Trivino allowed six runs after being signed Monday afternoon to join a bullpen which began the series by losing closer Ryan Helsley to elbow inflammation.
"We just weren't competitive," Albernaz said. "We didn't really give ourselves a chance to win, whether it be mistakes, miscues, whatever the case may be. That's on us. Like we've talked about all year, every game, we feel like we're in it.
"And this series, it felt like we just couldn't stop the bleeding in the big inning, or we shot ourselves in the foot. That's the biggest thing."
What about the Orioles' offense?
Gunnar Henderson's power dropped by 20 when he hit 17 homers and drove in 68 while batting .274 in 2025. While he has nine homers, Henderson is at .208 and was 2-for-13 in the series.
Last season, Adley Rutschman was derailed by a groin injury sustained in batting practice on June 20 at Yankee Stadium. This year, he had a brief injured list stint and has mostly been productive, though the 1-for-17 showing in the Bronx saw his average drop 67 points to .289.
Alonso homered twice in the series, including his first at-bat on Friday, following a 13-minute scrum of detailing how things unfolded with his free agency after his final season with the Mets. The rest of the series was a quiet one for the durable first baseman, and the Orioles played a series where it was apparent early on in three of the games that they were not going to lose.
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Are the Orioles at a Crossroads through 35 games?
The question about a crossroads was asked in our team preview feature in March and the Orioles are the ninth team with 20 losses so far.
If you are of a certain age, you might remember the Sporting News baseball guides that reviewed the previous season, and one of the categories was "turning point".
If the Orioles keep playing at this pace, this weekend might fall into the turning point section, especially since they play in the AL East.
In the other divisions of the American League, 20 losses do not necessarily mean you are doomed to not win a division title.
In this case, the geography is not in their favor since the Orioles exited the Bronx with a nine-game deficit behind the Yankees, who may open a double-digit lead on them by the end of the week.
In the AL Central, losing 20 of your 35 games only gets you a 2 1/2-game deficit. In the AL West, it gets you a 3 1/2-game deficit in third place.
In the recent history of the AL East it is not necessarily the record but the deficit that can doom a team.
Last season, the Blue Jays lost 20 of their first 36 but only trailed by 4 1/2-games. In their ill-fated 2023 season, the Yankees were a mediocre 18-17 through this point but already 10 games out of first place.
For the Orioles, the optics hardly looked good and how they looked against the team who appears to be the class of AL, did not leave much reason to think a division title is in their immediate future.
Related: Orioles Dealt Injury Blow Before MLB Season
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This story was originally published May 6, 2026 at 10:03 AM.