One of the wonderful things about the MLB trade deadline is that trades can be executed at nearly any time, between any teams, even if they are currently playing a series against each other. Reliever Seranthony Domínguez emblematized that on Tuesday.
Domínguez began the day in his second season with the Baltimore Orioles, who acquired him at the trade deadline last season. One trade later, he was a member of the Toronto Blue Jays, pitching a scoreless inning against their opponent, the Baltimore Orioles.
Baltimore sent him to Toronto in exchange for pitching prospect Juaron Watts-Brown, in between games of a doubleheader.
Hello from the other side 👋
Seranthony’s Blue Jays debut: 3 batters faced, TWO Ks! pic.twitter.com/z3qIl0t1pE
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) July 30, 2025
Domínguez pitched the bottom of the seventh inning, striking out Colton Cowser, hitting Dylan Carlson with a pitch then picking him off and striking out Jackson Holliday.
It’s always easier for traded players to jump in for their new name due to the individualized nature of the sport (no playbooks to learn, just pitching signals), but the trade was done on short enough notice that at least one other mistake was made.
Eagle-eyed observers noticed the “8” on the back of Domínguez’s jersey was upside down.
hey that 8 is upside down pic.twitter.com/YUeKP2wZfo
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) July 30, 2025
Domínguez, who spent the first six innings of his career with the Philadelphia Phillies, loomed as a no-brainer trade chip at the deadline for the Orioles. They might have been a buyer last season, but this year has been a slog, with their record sitting at 50-58 through Tuesday. They are in last place in the AL East.
It’s been a better year for Domínguez, who held a 3.24 ERA and 54 strikeouts in 41 2/3 innings for Baltimore. He’s still prone to wildness, but was effective enough to garner interest at a second straight deadline.
He folds into a Toronto bullpen that entered Tuesday ranked eighth in MLB in ERA. The team’s surprise surge to first place left it in need of a bullpen reinforcement, and that might not be the only thing it does between now and the deadline, scheduled for Thursday at 6 p.m. ET.
