The news came as a surprise to the players gathered in the clubhouse Saturday morning when general manager Mike Elias walked in. They suspected something had happened, considering a mandatory meeting was thrown on their schedule at late notice. But, when the shoe dropped in the form of a brief meeting, Orioles players learned Brandon Hyde had been relieved of his managerial duties.

The next few hours were a blur.

There was a game to prepare for against the Washington Nationals. They stretched, threw in the outfield and took batting practice. But, as players reflected on the news that rocked their morning — that the 15-28 start to the season cost Hyde his job — the introspection forced them to look at themselves.

Hyde didn’t whiff with a runner in scoring position. He didn’t throw a meatball that resulted in a home run.

And Baltimore’s players realized that the blame — which fell on Hyde’s shoulders as manager — is much more widespread than that.

“Obviously, we’ve been struggling,” said 21-year-old infielder Jackson Holliday, who was one of the first players to meet with members of the media after Hyde’s firing. “I guess a decision just had to be made. Obviously, feel like we have something to do with that. It’s baseball. It’s a business.”

Hyde is a fall man of sorts, though he isn’t immune to fault, considering the slumping lineup under his watch. Injuries certainly haven’t helped. But some of the major issues, such as the construction of the pitching staff, exceeded Hyde’s pay grade. Those were Elias’ decisions and, in a statement, the general manager noted that “the poor start to our season is ultimately my responsibility.” Elias was not available to media Saturday.

That responsibility also falls to the players and coaching staff around Hyde, who remain to see if this season is salvageable.

“There’s a lot of guys that want to be better for themselves, one, for the team,” left-hander Cade Povich said.

“We obviously haven’t played to the standards that we have shown,” infielder Gunnar Henderson said.

“It comes as a result of us not playing well,” right-hander Zach Eflin said.

“We know we haven’t been playing our best ball, and we know we’re capable of a lot more,” catcher Adley Rutschman said.

It was the universal feeling on the field at Camden Yards ahead of Saturday’s game, with players trickling in from pregame workouts to face the cameras. Especially for the younger players, such as Rutschman and Henderson, there was increased emotion to see Hyde gone. He’s the only manager they’ve known in the majors.

“It’s a tough scenario,” outfielder Cedric Mullins said. “I feel like I failed him in a way, just not being able to perform continuously and help get some wins across the board.”

In the interim, third-base coach Tony Mansolino will take the helm for the rest of the season. Bench coach Robinson Chirinos and Buck Britton remain as coaches. They are carryovers from earlier days. Britton managed many of these players for Triple-A Norfolk. Chirinos played under Hyde in 2022 and returned to the club over the winter at Hyde’s request.

That led to a sense of guilt from Chirinos, who spoke with Hyde on Saturday morning after he was fired.

“I told him I let him down, because I feel like I should’ve done a little bit more, and I think we all [should have],” Chirinos said. “If we evaluate ourselves as a club, as a coaching staff, I think there was room maybe to do more to help.”

If anything, this is a wake-up call to the players and staff.

“It’s a message for the players, for the coaches, for everybody,” Chirinos said. “It’s not a guaranteed spot in this club. Mike is telling people, he want[s] to win, and this is what he think[s] can make people wake up in a sense, and that goes to us, too. Like, we just need to be better. Staff, organization and as a player, we just need to get better, be better. … I think our fans deserve better, and hopefully this is something that will help us move in a direction the organization wants.”

The players vowed to make amends, although they have said the same throughout a dismal season. The improvement hasn’t arrived.

The issues are seen most acutely in key situations. The Orioles have the worst batting average with runners in scoring position (.192), and their 5.60 starting pitching ERA is third worst in baseball. A managerial change may not bring immediate change in those areas. The players themselves remain.

“He’s not the one playing the games,” Holliday said. “We’re the ones playing the games. We haven’t lived up to our expectations, and it’s difficult.”

Added Ramón Laureano: “The players are the ones that perform because we’re the ones with the bats and we’re the ones with the batting gloves there and with a mind to run the bases and the glove to field baseballs. And pitching’s pitching.

“As players,” he said, “we’ve got to play better.”

Still, players dispelled the idea that Hyde had lost the clubhouse. Povich and Holliday felt the players backed Hyde. In his short comments to the clubhouse, Elias told the players this was a change he felt was necessary.

Tomoyuki Sugano, who signed in the offseason after a storied career in Japan, came to Baltimore because he wanted to win a World Series. The beginning of the season isn’t promising for that hunt. And, while Sugano said through team interpreter Yuto Sakurai that “things had to change,” he doesn’t know if this was the correct change.

He can’t know that. None of them will, yet.

Although Hyde pulled in-game strings from the dugout steps, he never stepped into the batter’s box. He never threw from the mound. The firing, then, is a reminder to everyone of what can happen at any moment if the season continues to unravel.

“I honestly don’t know if it was good change or not,” Sugano said, “but nonetheless, from today on, if we can make good change, that would be great.”

At the end of what Ryan O’Hearn called a “tough day all around,” he planned to call his former manager. O’Hearn credits Hyde with giving him an extended opportunity to become a key everyday player. There was a mutual respect between the pair.

What will he tell Hyde first?

“How you doing?” O’Hearn plans to ask.

“There’s a human element to it, for sure,” O’Hearn said. “You spend every day around guys for a couple years in a row, you’re going to develop relationships and all that. That part really sucks.”