1988 Baltimore Orioles season

The 1988 Baltimore Orioles had the worst start to a season in modern American baseball history. The Orioles finished 7th in the American League East, reduced to a record of 54 wins and 107 losses just five seasons after winning the World Series. The season is most notable for the 0–21 start that lasted from April 4th to April 28th.[1] Manager Cal Ripken, Sr. was fired after an 0–6 start and replaced by Hall of Famer Frank Robinson. The Orioles won their first game of the year against the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park on April 29.[2] The most runs allowed during the season was 15 in a game on June 19 while the most runs scored was 12 in a game on May 31.[1] Orioles owner Edward Bennett Williams died in August of that year.

1988 Baltimore Orioles
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record54–107 (.335)
Divisional place7th
Other information
Owner(s)Edward Bennett Williams
General manager(s)Roland Hemond
Manager(s)Cal Ripken, Sr., Frank Robinson
Local televisionWMAR-TV
(Jim Simpson, Brooks Robinson)
Home Team Sports
(Jim Palmer, Mel Proctor, John Lowenstein)
Local radioWBAL (AM)
(Jon Miller, Joe Angel)
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This was only the second time that the Orioles had lost at least 100 games (the other being their inaugural season of 1954); in addition, the 107 losses would not be surpassed until 30 years later, and it was the fourth-worst overall franchise record, behind only the 1939 St. Louis Browns (43-111), the 2018 Orioles (47-115) and the 2019 Baltimore Orioles (54-108).

Offseason

Regular season
  • April 4, 1988: The Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Orioles 12–0, setting a record for the largest margin of victory in a shutout win on Opening Day.[8]
  • September 7, 1988: Curt Schilling made his major league debut. He pitched against the Boston Red Sox and pitched in 7 innings. Schilling gave up 6 hits and 3 earned runs. He had 2 strikeouts and 5 bases on balls.[9]

The Losing Streak
  • Game 13: The Orioles tied the 1904 Washington Senators and the 1920 Detroit Tigers for most losses to start the season with 13 losses after being beaten by the Brewers, 9–5, in Milwaukee.[10]
  • Game 14: On a cold, wet night, 7,284 witnessed baseball history at Milwaukee's County Stadium. Baltimore became the first team in MLB history to start the season 0–14 as the Brewers won, 8–6.[10]
  • Game 21: The Orioles lost 4–2 to the Minnesota Twins in Minnesota, extending their streak of season-starting losses to half again their original record, marking their seventh straight series being swept,[11] and ending the day 16 games out of first place on April 28.[12]

Season standings
AL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
Boston Red Sox 8973 0.549 — 53–28 36–45
Detroit Tigers 8874 0.543 1 50–31 38–43
Milwaukee Brewers 8775 0.537 2 47–34 40–41
Toronto Blue Jays 8775 0.537 2 45–36 42–39
New York Yankees 8576 0.528 3½ 46–34 39–42
Cleveland Indians 7884 0.481 11 44–37 34–47
Baltimore Orioles 54107 0.335 34½ 34–46 20–61

Record vs. opponents
1988 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore —4–95–74–74–95–80–124–93–93–104–87–56–65–8
Boston 9–4—8–47–58–56–76–610–37–59–43–96–68–42–11
California 7–54–8—9–48–45–75–83–94–96–64–96–78–56–6
Chicago 7–45–74–9—3–93–97–66–64–93–95–89–48–57–5
Cleveland 9–45–84–89–3—4–96–69–45–76–74–85–76–66–7
Detroit 8–57–67–59–39–4—8–45–81–118–54–89–38–45–8
Kansas City 12–06–68–56–76–64–8—3–97–66–68–57–57–64–8
Milwaukee 9–43–109–36–64–98–59–3—7–56–73–98–48–47–6
Minnesota 9–35–79–49–47–511–16–75–7—3–95–88–57–67–5
New York 10–34–96–69–37–65–86–67–69–3—6–65–75–66–7
Oakland 8–49–39–48–58–48–45–89–38–56–6—9–48–59–3
Seattle 5–76–67–64–97–53–95–74–85–87–54–9—6–75–7
Texas 6–64–85–85–86–64–86–74–86–76–55–87–6—6–6
Toronto 8–511–26–65–77–68–58–46–75–77–63–97–56–6—

Opening Day starters

Notable transactions

Roster
1988 Baltimore Orioles roster
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats
= Indicates team leader

Starters by position

Note: Pos = position; G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting Average; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In

Pos Player G AB H HR RBI Avg.
CMickey Tettleton86283741137.261
1BEddie Murray1616031712884.284
2BBilly Ripken150512103234.207
3BRick Schu8927069420.256
SSCal Ripken1615751522381.264
LFPete Stanicek8326160417.230
CFFred Lynn87301761837.252
RFJoe Orsulak125379109827.288
DHLarry Sheets1364521041047.230

[18]

Other batters
Player G AB H HR RBI Avg.
Jim Traber103352781045.222
Terry Kennedy8526560316.226
Ken Gerhart10326251923.195
Rene Gonzales9223751215.215
Brady Anderson531773519.198
Keith Hughes4110821214.194
Craig Worthington26811524.185
Jeff Stone26611001.164
Jim Dwyer35531203.226
Carl Nichols1847901.191
Wade Rowdon2030300.100
Butch Davis1325600.240
Tito Landrum1324302.125

[18]

Starting pitchers
Player G IP W L ERA SO
José Bautista33171.76154.3076
Jay Tibbs30158.74155.3982
Jeff Ballard25153.38124.4041
Mike Boddicker21147.06123.86100
Oswaldo Peraza1986.0575.5561
Scott McGregor417.3038.8310
Curt Schilling414.7039.824
Bob Milacki325.0200.7218
Pete Harnisch213.0025.5410
Dickie Noles23.30224.301

Other pitchers
Player G IP W L ERA SO
Dave Schmidt41129.7853.4067
Mark Williamson37117.7584.9069
Mike Morgan2271.3165.4329
Gordon Dillard23.0006.002

Relief pitchers
Player G IP W L SV ERA SO
Tom Niedenfuer5259.034183.5140
Doug Sisk5294.33303.7226
Mark Thurmond4374.71834.5829
Don Aase3546.70004.0528
John Habyan714.71004.304
Gregg Olson1011.01103.279
Bill Scherrer44.001013.503

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Rochester Red Wings International League Johnny Oates
AA Charlotte Knights Southern League Greg Biagini
A Hagerstown Suns Carolina League Mike Hart
A-Short Season Erie Orioles New York–Penn League Bobby Tolan
Rookie Bluefield Orioles Appalachian League Glenn Gulliver

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Rochester

References
  1. 1988 Baltimore Orioles Schedule, Box Scores and Splits - Baseball-Reference.com
  2. Box Score of Game played on Friday, April 29, 1988 at Comiskey Park I
  3. Mike Kinnunen page at Baseball Reference
  4. Mike Hart page at Baseball Reference
  5. Rico Rossy page at Baseball Reference
  6. Ray Knight page at Baseball Reference
  7. Rick Schu page at Baseball Reference
  8. SI.com - Statitudes - Statitudes: Opening Day 2002, By the Numbers - Sunday March 30, 2003 01:50 AM
  9. Curt Schilling page at Baseball Reference
  10. Washingtonpost.com: The 1988 Orioles: And the Losing Goes On
  11. "1988 Baltimore Orioles Schedule". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  12. Jim Caple (October 10, 2014). "ALCS: Someone's misery will end". ESPN. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  13. 1988 Baltimore Orioles Roster by Baseball Almanac
  14. Dickie Noles page at Baseball Reference
  15. Mickey Tettleton page at Baseball Reference
  16. Pete Rose Jr. page at Baseball Reference
  17. Mike Boddicker page at Baseball Reference
  18. 1988 Baltimore Orioles Statistics and Roster - Baseball-Reference.com
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