While 2025 hasn't been a good time for Baltimore Orioles fans, they certainly enjoyed the club's recent trip to sunny San Diego. The Orioles swept one of the National League's best teams in the San Diego Padres, and got to reunite with some familiar faces in the process.
Baltimore's homegrown superstar Manny Machado landed in San Diego in 2019, which feels like ages ago, though that doesn't mean that Orioles fans don't have fond memories of the former Platinum Glove winner's exploits at the hot corner or impact at the dish.
More recently, Machado has been joined on the West Coast by some fresher faces, with the Orioles dealing Ryan O'Hearn and Ramon Laureano to the Padres at the trade deadline. In addition to this blockbuster, there was also some sizzle connecting the Orioles and Padres in a potential Charlie Morton trade, though the grizzled veteran ultimately ended up with the Detroit Tigers.
Since the deadline, O'Hearn has been solid for the Padres, while Laureano has been a standout performer with seven dingers and a .950 OPS since joining the NL West playoff race. Both O'Hearn and Laureano were well-liked in Baltimore, making it a bit bittersweet for O's fans to see them supporting Manny Machado in a playoff push.
Still, with the playoff ship having long set sail without the Orioles aboard, fans in Baltimore are taking solace in the fact that there's a really solid club with a bunch of familiar faces poised to make some noise, with many rooting for the Padres down the stretch.
The Padres are serving as a playoff proxy for Orioles fans looking for a rooting interest down the stretch
So while the Padres have become Orioles-West, and fans are taking joy in their former stars' success in what has been a lost season, Baltimore still has some business to take care of.
The stretch run will serve as an audition for several players, veterans and youngsters alike, to make a case to return in 2026 with the O's looking to shake off this year's turbulence and rise back to the ranks of contention themselves.
Furthermore, their recent dismantling of the Padres has shown that there's still talent on this team, and they can step in and play the role of spoiler, upsetting both their division foes and other hopeful contenders as the season winds down.
Once October rolls around, the Orioles will be plotting their next move, leaving a void for the dedicated Baltimore fan who is not yet ready to let go of enjoying baseball action. The San Diego Padres are a logical choice, then to fill that void, and it seems as if most fans have already embraced them as their "second" club. With so many impactful familiar faces, it's easy to see why.