Sounds like beloved Blue Jays fan favorite is bringing his brand of magic to rival Orioles

For the past three years Chris Bassitt was an influential voice in the clubhouse of the Toronto Blue Jays. The veteran right-hander was widely regarded as one of the driving forces behind the Blue Jays' "good vibes" road show that took them all the way to the World Series in 2025.

No longer with the Blue Jays, it hasn't taken Bassitt long to employ some of his old tricks on his new team. Signing with the Baltimore Orioles in the offseason, it was recently revealed that Bassitt had to pull the pitching staff together and have a chat over the way they are playing.

Orioles beat reporter Andy Kostka reported that Bassitt told the team they had to have a "hard talk" and to stop being "too cute" with how they were pitching.

And those talks were taken to heart, for the most part, over the last couple of days. First, Shane Baz shoved for 5.2 innings against the Houston Astros on Tuesday. He allowed one run on six hits and struck out six, leaving with a 4-1, in an eventual 5-3 victory.

Then Bassitt backed up his own words with arguably his best effort of the season. He pitched 6.2 innings of one-run ball, scattering seven hits while striking out seven in a 10-3 Orioles win.

Was there room for Bassitt on the Blue Jays in 2026?

Some fans will be happy for Bassitt. It's always great to see former fan favourites have success, maybe less so if they are doing that with a division rival. But after the offseason the Blue Jays had, it felt inevitable that they would be parting ways with the 37-year-old. In hindsight they could have signed him and considering the amount of injuries the team has endured, there would have been a role for Bassitt on this club.

The Orioles though, seeing him still available in the free agency pile just ahead of the opening of Spring Training decided to offer him a one-year $18.5 million deal. Up until Thursday, that wasn't looking like such a hot investment. Bassit had allowed 17 runs (16 earned) in 21.2 innings pitched in his first five starts, with 13 walks compared to 10 strikeouts.

The money seems well worth it though when Bassitt is making starts like he did against the Astros, and encouraging the rest of the pitching staff to be better as well. A pitching staff that ranks 22nd in team ERA (4.39) and 24th in team WHIP (1.44). However, not all of the Orioles starters seemed to have heeded those wise words.

Brandon Young started the second game of the Thursday double header after Bassitt and allowed 10 runs (seven earned) in four innings in am 11-5 loss. Cade Povich had a similarly bad outing on Friday (May 1) allowing five runs in four innings in a 7-2 defeat at the hands of the New York Yankees.

Along with the Blue Jays' win on Friday over the Minnesota Twins, the birds of the AL East are flocking together in the standings with identical 15-17 records going into May 2. It would likely behoove the Orioles to be more like Bassitt from this point forward, but Blue Jays fans would be just fine if they continue to trend in the other direction.

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