SAN DIEGO — Standing across the stadium from the team he began the season with, Ryan O’Hearn remarked how weird it was going to be to face the Orioles.

Baltimore gave O’Hearn a second chance in 2023 when he thought his career might be over and he developed into a steady contributor and was the team’s lone All-Star this season.

But then again, he remembered, the Orioles team he is facing Monday for the first time since being traded is nothing like the one he was on just over a month ago. The Orioles sold off nine players ahead of the MLB trade deadline, including O’Hearn and Ramón Laureano, who now wear Padre brown. The Orioles only have 10 players left on their roster who were with the team on opening day.

“I think in a way that makes it easier,” he said. “Some of them I spent some time with in spring training, but I don’t know them all that well, so I think it makes it a little bit less weird playing against them versus if it was the exact same team except for me. But I think it’s definitely a little weird.”

Life in San Diego, where the weather is 75 degrees and sunny every day, isn’t too bad. Being on a team filled with accomplished players who are chasing a division title and playoff spot instead of just counting down the days until the season ends is a nice perk, too. Entering Monday’s game, the Padres are two games behind the Dodgers in the National League West and hold the second wild-card spot.

“Definitely an older team, more veteran team,” O’Hearn said inside a clubhouse that includes names like Manny Machado and Yu Darvish. “A lot of accolades in this room, so that’s been cool to be a part of. And kind of figure out where I fit in.”

O’Hearn is hitting .259 with three home runs in 26 games with San Diego, splitting time between first base and designated hitter, just like he did in Baltimore. Laureano is also playing a key role, hitting .305 with seven home runs and a .935 OPS in his 28 games with the Padres.

“Just a continuation, doing the same thing on my practice, on my gym work and in the game,” Laureano said of his continued success. “At the end of the day, just playing winning baseball.”

He said he doesn’t feel any extra emotion for this series —he only spent a few months with Baltimore, after all — but his presence in the Orioles clubhouse has been missed.

“He’s an unusual type of profile in the fact that, as a Latin player, he came in and led a bunch of young American kids,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “He’s probably a little bit different in how he goes about it, but he’s a guy that our whole clubhouse just flocked to and gravitated to.”

Now that they’ve been away, both have had a chance to reflect back on what went wrong with the Orioles, who are 61-76 and will miss the postseason after back-to-back appearances. Laureano said it was the injuries, which have impacted every aspect of the roster. O’Hearn pointed to how nothing went right at the beginning of the season, when the were Orioles 12-18 at the end of April.

But now, both have moved on. They will almost certainly be playing in October, while their former teammates will be at home.

“I have an amazing opportunity to hopefully go to the postseason and do something special with this team,” O’Hearn said. “It’s not what I had hoped for this season, but it is what it is, and at this point, I’m blessed to be on a different team with a great opportunity to go to the postseason.”