The Baltimore Orioles have laid off 16 employees from their business operations department, and two of the casualties are among the most beloved faces — or feathers — at Camden Yards: Mr. Splash and one of the performers behind the Oriole Bird mascot. The cuts have left fans wondering whether this is just corporate housekeeping or an early warning sign of a rough offseason ahead.
The team confirmed the layoffs but declined to comment on specific employees, according to WBAL-TV. Madison Lester, manager of Pickles Pub and an Orioles fan, told the station the layoffs are sad and unfortunate and that they make her feel a lockout will happen this year. Lamar Gillespie said he felt the team should have kept its employees rather than make the cuts, while fan Kyle Umstead said simply that it's bad to see anybody lose their job.
Behind the public-facing cuts sits a wider corporate shake-up. Orioles President of Business Operations Catie Griggs told staff in an internal memo that the layoffs were meant to reshape organizational roles and reporting lines rather than simply shrink headcount, according to Inc. Magazine. Internal communications cited by the outlet show the cuts touched roles across sales, graphic design, content, game presentation, and photography.
Broadcast Side Also Feels the Squeeze
The business-operations trims weren't limited to the ballpark. The Baltimore Banner reported that the job eliminations coincided with off-air layoffs at the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, the regional broadcaster majority-owned by the Orioles, as the network continues administrative restructuring following the franchise's ownership change. That broader reshuffling has included new leadership hires, with former MLB and Meta executive Rosina Lanson appointed Chief Strategy Officer for both the Orioles and MASN in August 2025, per Insider Sport.
Despite the cuts, the team says the characters themselves aren't going anywhere. The Oriole Bird mascot — portrayed by multiple individuals over the years — will remain part of the organization, and the Orioles have confirmed the Bird Bath splash zone will return next season. The Bird Bath debuted in Section 86 at Camden Yards on May 12, 2023, after Orioles players Cole Irvin, Keegan Akin, and James McCann conceived it as a way to engage fans with water-themed celebrations, according to MLB.com. Fan demand led the team to expand the splash zone into neighboring Section 84 ahead of the 2025 season.
A Mascot With Nearly Five Decades of History
The Oriole Bird has a long legacy in Baltimore sports. It officially debuted on April 6, 1979, hatching from a seven-foot egg at Memorial Stadium, and was inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame in 2019, according to CBS News. The lineage traces back even further to 1954's Mr. Oriole, which Major League Baseball considers its first costumed mascot. The brand has also expanded in recent years, with Baltimore Magazine reporting that the team debuted a newly redesigned Mother Bird outfit — created by a Maryland Institute College of Art student — for Mother's Day appearances in May 2026, updating a thrift-store costume used in prior seasons.
Hoodline previously covered fan frustration over a Bird Bath no-show, underscoring how closely fans track the people and characters behind these in-game traditions.
Fans Fear Layoffs Signal Lockout Jitters
The timing has fans connecting the dots to labor trouble on the horizon. Major League Baseball owners have proposed a salary cap to players for the first time since the 1994-95 strike, ahead of the collective bargaining agreement's expiration in December 2026, according to research published by Ursinus Digital Commons. A lockout is expected that same month. Umstead said he believes many MLB teams may cut ties with staff until a lockout ends, with many potentially returning afterward, while Lester said she'd be upset if the laid-off performers weren't back by next year and stressed that Orioles fans do not want a lockout at all.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott weighed in as well, acknowledging that the Bird and Mr. Splash matter to the city while making clear his focus remains on the team's on-field competitiveness for 2027, according to WBAL-TV. The comments came after the 2026 season had already ended. The layoffs also land awkwardly against the backdrop of a 30-year lease extension the state and the Orioles finalized at Camden Yards in December 2023, unlocking $600 million in state bond authority for stadium improvements, per the Maryland Stadium Authority. That deal requires the team to reach an agreement on surrounding land development by December 2027 to keep the full 30-year term.
The restructuring fits a pattern that began when private equity executive David Rubenstein and his investor group acquired controlling interest in the Orioles from the Angelos family in March 2024 at a $1.725 billion valuation, according to MLB Trade Rumors, ending three decades of family ownership under Peter and John Angelos. Griggs took over business operations following that transition, and the latest layoffs mark another step in reshaping how the franchise runs its front office — even as the mascots fans grew up with stay on the roster in some form.
