Baltimore Orioles: looking back at the 0-21 start to 1988

On opening day, every team in the league is in first place, except the 1988 Baltimore Orioles, who were in the division’s basement before a pitch was thrown.

Some teams are just bad and destined to lose over one hundred games a year. Other teams catch a few bad breaks, get bitten by the injury bug, and suffer through stretches of poor play, en route to one hundred-plus loss. The 1988 Baltimore Orioles dug themselves an insurmountable hole to begin the season and easily reached the one-hundred loss plateau.

After guiding the 1987 Baltimore Orioles to a 67-95 record, skipper Cal Ripkin Sr. was back at the helm in ’88. At least for the first six games, all of which were losses. Hall of Fame Frank Robinson slid into the role of manager and oversaw the team as they lost their next 15 games, to begin the year 0-21.

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Twenty-one straight losses are quite a feat, even more impressive starting the season off on such a losing roll. The Orioles sat sixteen games out of first place by the time they won their first game.

At no point during the season were the Orioles in a place in the division other than last. They would go on to post a major league-worst record of 54-107.

In what area can we point the finger to why the team got off to a winless start of twenty-one games.

The Hitting

The Baltimore Orioles bats were a big part of the reason the team couldn’t get off the snide early. They scored two runs in the first four games and were shut out or scored one run in ten of their first twenty-one.

The team boasted the Ripken brothers, Eddie Murray, and Fred Lynn, what could go wrong? A combination of not getting hits and not taking walks is what went wrong.

The Orioles didn’t get on base, they didn’t hit, and they definitely were not hitting for power. These were the main reasons behind not being able to score any runs.

After their sixteenth game of the year (a 13-1 loss to Kansas City) the top four Orioles in the lineup were hitting .149, .190, .175, and .125. Balls were not finding the holes and the hitters just were not getting on base. Looking at the supposed leadership of the lineup, Billy and Cal were hitting below the Mendoza Line and Murray and Lynn were barely over it.

The starting catcher was hitting .196 and the platoon left fielders Ken Gerhart (.118) and Jim Traber (.091) were far worse.

In the first twenty-one losses, the Orioles cycled through six lead-off hitters, who hit a combined .192. The team hit just ten home runs during that span. The lack of table setting and lack of power resulted in little run support for the pitchers.

The Pitching

Former twenty game winner Mike Boddicker got the call on opening day and he got lit to the tune of nine hits and four earned runs, and he was the best O’s pitcher of the day. His second time out he gave up eight hits and five earned in just an inning and two thirds.

Boddicker was the ace of a starting rotation that walked too many, struck out too few, and got hit hard early and often. When the season started Mike Morgan and Scott McGregor were tabbed as being key parts to the pitching staff. Morgan had a 5.58 earned run average in his first five starts and was kicked out of the rotation shortly after the team’s first win of the year. McGregor pitched to an ERA of 8.83 and was released from his contract after just four starts.

The combination of the offense providing little run support and the starting pitching getting rocked didn’t leave the team much hope in the later innings. The bullpen did their part to keep the losing streak alive though.

Remember opening day, when Boddicker gave up four runs? The two relievers who replaced him each gave up four runs as well. In game number 16, Mike Morgan gave up six runs without recording an out, and the four pitchers who followed him, each gave up at least one run also.

In the first twenty-one games the pitching staff surrendered at least six runs eleven times. Ironically a shutout was pitched in the first win of the year.