Black and orange is all the rage, and that has local retailers seeing green.

The Baltimore Orioles enter this weekend's series against the Boston Red Sox not as spoilers or American League East also-rans, but as legitimate major league playoff contenders. The team opens public tickets sales Saturday for potential wildcard and American League Division Series games.

Well into football season, nonetheless, the Bird is the word, and business is booming at Wild Bill's in Fullerton. The team's resurgence "has been a long time coming, because we love the Orioles no matter what," said Neal Houk of Perry Hall, a manager there.

On a Friday afternoon, easily a half-dozen fans, old and young, were milling about the store's collection of Orioles, Ravens and college apparel and other paraphernalia (such as purple hats and boas). The shop—once just a tent at the corner of Rossville Boulevard and Belair Road and going back to a tent outside old Memorial Stadium—opened a full-fledged retail shop there on Monday, and it couldn't have come at a better time.

ESPN reported earlier this week that the Orioles' resurgence on the field has translated to big merchandise receipts off it. Only the New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants have moved more gear this year, and sales of Orioles caps have doubled.

The rise is also credited, in part, to the team ditching the "ornithologically correct" bird—the winged overseer of 14-straight losing seasons—for an updated version of the goofy cartoon bird from the "Orioles Magic" era.

"I think a lot of people like it, but right now anything orange is selling," Houk said. Two-thirds of the team's online merchandise sales, ESPN reports, are from outside Maryland.