MLB fans were shocked an Orioles announcer was suspended for noting the team’s past struggles

Was he supposed to lie and say they won the World Series?

The Baltimore Orioles have been one of MLB’s better storylines all season long. They sit at the top of the American League standings and look poised to win their first pennant in over four decades. But anyone who follows the Orioles closely will understand just how miserable they’ve been in recent years.

This is a concept the Orioles and their main broadcast partner, MASN, don’t seem interested in reminding people of.

On Monday, a report from Awful Announcing revealed that MASN Orioles play-by-play broadcaster, Kevin Brown, was apparently suspended for recently pointing out that the Orioles had once lost 15 straight road series to the AL East rival Tampa Bay Rays.

The Orioles snapped this streak to Tampa Bay, taking three of four games… in late July. Brown hasn’t been on the air since, serving an indefinite suspension. The report was corroborated by John Ourand of Sports Business Journal.

I don’t know about you, dear reader, but highlighting that a now good team used to be bad seems pretty anodyne and harmless to me!

Here's the clip of Kevin Brown's pregame comments on the Orioles' recent record against the Rays ahead of a series finale on July 23. Sources tell AA these comments led to Brown's current indefinite suspension from Orioles' broadcasts. pic.twitter.com/csURU04fJU

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 7, 2023

All Brown did above was point out an impartial truth — the Orioles were, in fact, awful. For a long time. No one who loves the team and follows their every exploit has forgotten the three 100-plus-loss seasons in four years from 2018 to 2021. That kind of atrociousness gets embedded into a fan’s psyche. And the good folks at Baseball Reference won’t erase that history, either.

If anything, it’s such futility that makes the Orioles’ meteoric rise into contention all the sweeter. Many of us watch our favorite teams toil around for years, hoping for one glorious moment of joy. Orioles fans are simply reaping the benefits of a sports fan’s evergreen rite of passage.

Well, it sure doesn’t seem like it if the Orioles or MASN have anything to say about it, apparently.