Orioles

Baltimore is a working port city. Camden Yards sits just past the old rail yards.

The franchise itself is older than the city's claim on it. It started in 1894 as the Milwaukee Brewers, spent half a century as the St. Louis Browns, and only became the Baltimore Orioles in 1954. The nickname stuck twice over: fans call the team "The O's," and call the city that follows them "Birdland."

All three of Baltimore's World Series titles came in a tight span — 1966 against the Dodgers, 1970 against the Reds, 1983 against the Phillies — years that still anchor how the club measures itself against everything since. Cal Ripken Jr. is the name that carries furthest beyond that run: an Orioles shortstop and third baseman whose streak of consecutive games played redefined what durability meant in the sport, and who is remembered in Baltimore less for any single season than for simply always being in the lineup.

The rivalry with the New York Yankees has shaped the American League East for decades, while the newer Beltway Series against the Washington Nationals gives the club a rivalry closer to home. On the field now, Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson carry the current lineup, playing in front of a Camden Yards crowd of just over 42,000 that has watched this ballpark become the model every retro stadium since has tried to copy.