DETROIT — Brady Anderson played 15 seasons in the major leagues, but in his career, the things that stand out the most for him happened in two Octobers.

The first was in 1996, the season in which he hit an uncharacteristic 50 home runs but then watched his team lose to the Yankees in the American League Championship Series, thanks in part to a 12-year-old fan named Jeffrey Maier who turned a potential extra-base hit by Derek Jeter into a home run. The other came a year later, when the Orioles made it back to the A.L.C.S., lost again and never returned. Until now.

“I had a long career,” Anderson said in a hallway of the visitors’ clubhouse at Comerica Park on Sunday as he wiped Champagne from his face following the Orioles’ division-series sweep of the Detroit Tigers. “But if I’m really forced to close my eyes and look back on my career, the memories that are most vivid are the playoffs. Not even close.”

Anderson is now the Orioles’ vice president for baseball operations, with a role in almost every aspect of the current team. He stands as one of the most visible links between then and now, including all the losing years in between. And the long-awaited return to the A.L.C.S. definitely took him back to his own playing days.