Bryan Baker Reacts as Former Orioles Head to World Series

Baltimore Orioles fans won't have their own team to watch in the World Series this year, but a lot of former Orioles will be on the field when the Tampa Bay Rays open the series in Milwaukee on Friday.

Tampa Bay beat the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 on Monday night at Tropicana Field to win the American League Championship Series in six games.

Closer Bryan Baker pitched the ninth inning and set down all three hitters he faced, which sent Tampa Bay to its first World Series since 2020.

Baker was still taking it all in after the final out, and he said in a video after the game that he would have to go back and watch it from a different perspective "because right now it's just a blur."

He also said he was super excited for his teammates and that the group had earned every step of the way.

Baker finished the regular season with a 1.44 ERA and 41 saves in 65 games, and his 41 saves tied for the most in the American League.

Baltimore sent him to Tampa Bay in July 2025 for a draft pick, and that deal has aged poorly for Baltimore with every save he has picked up since.

Baker has plenty of company from Baltimore in that clubhouse, and it is a strange sight for anyone who followed the Orioles.

Right-hander Tyler Wells came over when the Orioles traded him to the Rays on Aug. 3 for right-hander Michael Forret, and Wells put up a 1.50 ERA in 14 games with Tampa Bay after the deal.

Outfielder Cedric Mullins took a longer road, since the Orioles traded him to the New York Mets in July 2025 and he signed with the Rays in December, and he hit 15 home runs with 21 stolen bases in 137 games this season.

Even former Orioles manager Brandon Hyde works for the club now as a senior advisor in baseball operations.

I am not surprised that some Orioles fans have picked the Rays as their team to root for in the World Series, with so many familiar names on one roster.

The Orioles finished 79-82 and fourth in the American League East this season while the Rays went 98-64 and won the division, and that gap is hard to look at when some of the players who helped Tampa Bay win came off Baltimore's roster.

To be fair, the Orioles bullpen found a way to hold up without Baker this year, and nobody could have known he would turn into one of the top closers in the league.

Seeing him close out a pennant for a division rival should still push the front office to be more careful about which arms it lets go, because good relievers are hard to find.

I keep coming back to how close the Orioles really are to playing in late October, and my view is that this offseason has to be about adding talent instead of sending it away, since Baltimore cannot keep building winners for the teams it is trying to catch.