David Rubenstein Opens Up on Owning the Orioles After Losing Season

Baltimore Orioles owner David Rubenstein has run his hometown team for three seasons now, and at a forum in Washington last Thursday night he admitted he is still learning how the job works.

Rubenstein chairs the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., and he sat on stage there with three other local owners, including Ted Leonsis, who owns the Capitals, Wizards and Mystics.

The event was set up around his new book, Inside the Owner's Box, which came out last month.

He said he did not know what ownership was about when he was buying the Orioles, and that friends were making more money from their teams than he made in private equity, but he bought the club for a philanthropic purpose because he grew up in Baltimore and wanted to help bring back the team and the city.

"Lots of people want to be owners and lots of people don't realize how hard it is to be an owner. I keep telling people, it's not as easy as I thought," Rubenstein said, according to a report from the forum.

He also joked that he took over a first-place team and managed to put it in last place, and the record backs him up.

Baltimore won 101 games and the American League East in 2023, then won 91 games and reached the playoffs as a wild card in 2024, his first year.

The club fell to 75-87 and last place in 2025 before going 79-82 and finishing fourth in the division this season, even with a payroll of $166.7 million.

I believe Rubenstein when he says owners care more about winning than making money.

Still, fans judge an owner by his moves in the winter more than his words at a dinner, and this winter got off to a rough start when the club let go of workers on the business side in the layoffs earlier this month.

To be fair, Rubenstein was on hand when the club extended catcher Samuel Basallo and pitchers Shane Baz and Kyle Bradish, signed first baseman Pete Alonso and hired manager Craig Albernaz.

He did not get into specific plans at the forum, which leaves the answers to a front office that hired Jared Banner away from the Cubs as general manager on Monday.

President of baseball operations Mike Elias has already promised a push to get the team winning again, and the first calls for him and Banner come soon, since the club holds a $7.5 million option on first baseman Ryan Mountcastle and pitcher Ryan Helsley has a $14 million player option.

I give Rubenstein credit for being open about how hard this has been, since most owners would never joke about their own record in front of a crowd.

Fans want more than jokes, though, and they want this group to close the gap on a World Series trip that still feels far away.

I will be watching the Mountcastle and Helsley calls first, and if the money keeps going into the roster this winter, his line about ownership being harder than he thought will sound like a lesson learned instead of an excuse.