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The Toronto Blue Jays are moving on to face off against the Texas Rangers, again, in the American League Divisional Series. How they got there this time around was quite a bit more dramatic than last year, though, winning the AL Wild Card Game over the Orioles in the 11th on a walk-off, three-run home run from Edwin Encarnacion.

For quite a while, it was actually a pretty wild 2-2 game even if that score makes it sound a tad bit boring for the casual fan.

Now the Orioles go home while the Blue Jays move on to face off against the Rangers in a series that promises some fireworks. It begins Thursday in Texas' Globe Life Park. Here are some more things to know about the Wild Card Game.

Bautista is a postseason superstar

The Bat Flip Heard 'Round The World made it easy to overlook Jose Bautista's overall excellent postseason last year. He hit .293/.408/.659 with four home runs in 11 total games. Incredible.

Bautista wasted no time making an impact in the Wild Card Game on Tuesday, as he opened the scoring with a second inning solo home run. To the action footage:

That's five postseason home runs in 12 games for Joey Bats. Only one Blue Jays player has hit more career homers in October:

Carter needed 29 postseason games to hit his six homers. Bautista got to five in fewer than half as many games.

Tillman's velocity was way down

In his final regular season start, Chris Tillman averaged 90.6 mph with his fastball, easily a season low. In fact, check out his fastball velocity by start this season (via Brooks Baseball):


Yikes. That's a scary trend. Tillman's velocity was no better Tuesday night than it was in his final regular season start too. He was sitting 88-91 mph in the first two innings and was throwing max effort to get there. Bautista's home run came on an 88.7 mph heater.

Not surprisingly, Tillman threw Bautista nothing but breaking balls in his second at-bat, a four-pitch walk. A fastball near the zone was the last thing he was going to throw, even with the bases empty.

The one time Tillman did hump it up to 94 mph, the pitch was way up and out of the zone, which is a classic sign of overthrowing. He was either pitching hurt or pitching very fatigued -- beyond the normal end-of-season fatigue -- Tuesday night. That seems pretty clear.

Tillman finished the night with two runs allowed on four hits and one walk in 4 1/2. There were several loud outs in there too. Tuesday night was a real grind for the right-hander.

The second time through the lineup was Stroman's problem

Overall, Marcus Stroman pitched very well in the Wild Card Game, holding the Orioles to two runs on four hits and no walks in six innings. Almost all of the damage came the second time through the lineup:

Regular Season AL Wild Card Game
First Time Thru Lineup .275/.321/.346 0 for 9, 3 K
Second Time Thru Lineup .225/.289/.341 3 for 9, 1 HR, 3 K
Third Time Thru Lineup .284/.321/.525 1 for 4

What that table doesn't show is that Stroman benefitted from two great defensive plays the second time through the order. Kevin Pillar robbed Manny Machado of an RBI double with a diving catch, and Troy Tulowitzki took a base hit away from Jonathan Schoop with a diving stop. The O's very nearly had two more hits the second time throught the lineup.

Blue Jays manager John Gibbons rolled the dice and sent Stroman out to face the top of the lineup a third time in the sixth inning, and aside from a soft single by Machado, he got through the frame unscathed. Still, Gibbons was not going to push his luck any further. He pulled Stroman after six innings with only 81 pitches.

Trumbo's homer was a personal record

The O's took a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning on (what else?) a home run. Mark Trumbo did the honors with a line drive down the line. Stroman put it right in his wheelhouse. Trumbo's homer was a personal record:

Does that qualify as a personal best or personal worst? I guess worst, probably. Pretty funny that a guy who seems to hit nothing but bombs hit his shortest ever home run in his first ever postseason game.

The O's stole a base!

During the regular season the Orioles ranked dead last in baseball with 19 stolen bases. Nineteen. As a team. As in, all of the players put together. Thirty different players stole at least 19 bases during the regular season. Crazy. The last thing you'd expect Baltimore to do Tuesday night was swipe a bag.

So, naturally, the O's stole a base in the Wild Card Game. Noted speedster Michael Bourn did the honors with two outs in the fifth inning. He made it safely without a throw on a breaking ball in the dirt. J.J. Hardy struck out to end the inning, so the steal didn't turn into a run, but still. The Orioles did it!

A fan threw a beer at Kim

In the seventh inning, pinch-hitter Melvin Upton hit an inning-ending fly ball to left field. A fairly routine play, I'd say, at least until a fan threw a beer at Hyun Soo Kim right before he caught the ball. Here's a photo:

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A fan threw a beer at Hyun Soo Kim during the Wild Card Game. USATSI

That's awful. Get out of here with that nonsense. There's no place for that anywhere. I hope they kick whoever did it out and never let them back in. Disgusting and dangerous.

Also -- and I guess this shouldn't be surprising -- Kim and Adam Jones said fans were yelling racial slurs at them:

It's just baseball, folks. Grow the hell up.

Givens and O'Day got huge outs

Things can get pretty scary when your starter checks out after 4 1/3 innings. There are a lot of outs to get before your big end-game arms come into play. Orioles skipper Buck Showalter went to hard-throwing righty Mychal Givens to replace Tillman in the fifth inning, when the Blue Jays had runners on the corners with one out. Givens got a first pitch inning-ending double play from Devon Travis to keep the score tied 2-2.

Then, in the ninth, Darren O'Day coaxed an inning-ending double play from Russell Martin to again keep the scored tied 2-2. That inning was ... eventful. Let's break it down quick:

1. The Blue Jays had their 2-3-4 hitters due up. That means Josh Donaldson, Edwin Encarnacion, and Bautista in a 2-2 game. Rather than turn to all-world closer Zach Britton, Showalter opted to leave setup man Brad Brach in for a second inning of work. A double and an intentional walk later, Toronto was in business.

Now, I know that wasn't a save situation, but against those three batters with your season on the line, don't you have to go to Britton? You can't not use him in a win-or-go-home game like this. Against the middle of that order in the ninth inning, that was the time to use the best reliever on the planet. Instead, Showalter stuck with Brach.

2. Brach gets Bautista. After the double and walk put runners on first and second with no outs, Brach bounced back to strike out Bautista on a check swing strike three. It was actually a called strike three, though replays showed Bautista went around on his swing anyway. That was a huge first out. I know more than a few folks were expecting Bautista to win the game right there, with Britton sitting in the bullpen.

3. O'Day gets the double play. Showalter replaced Brach after he struck out Bautista, but again, Britton did not enter the game. It was O'Day. The Orioles needed a double play in the worst way, and this year Britton posted the highest ground ball rate (80.0 percent) since batted ball data started being recorded in 2002. O'Day had a 34.2 percent ground ball rate in 2016. He's one of the least likely pitchers to get a ground ball.

Sure enough, O'Day got the double play from Martin. On the first pitch too. Around the horn 5-4-3 double play to send the game to extra innings. Pretty incredible. Losing the game that inning while Britton sat in the bullpen would have been inexcusable, and it was dangerously close to happening. Instead, Brach and O'Day combined for a scoreless frame. Baseball.

Toronto's closer got hurt

As expected, the Blue Jays went to closer Roberto Osuna in the ninth inning of a tie game at home. He got three quick outs, then went back out for the top of the tenth. After getting the first batter, Encarnacion visited the mound, then called for the trainer. Osuna was pulled without throwing a test pitch or anything.

After the game, Osuna said his shoulder was bothering him, but it doesn't sound like it's anything serious:

That's good news, though shoulder troubles are never good. Hopefully this is truly minor and Osuna is back out there soon. The Blue Jays are going to need him if they're going to beat the Rangers in the ALDS.

Encarnacion sent the Blue Jays to the ALDS

Once Ubaldo Jimenez entered the game in the 11th inning, it felt like only a matter of time until the Blue Jays won. It took five pitches. Travis singled, Donaldson singled, then Encarnacion hit the biggest home run in Toronto since Joe Carter. He knew it was gone the instant it left his bat too:

Okay, fine. Maybe Bautista's home run in Game 5 of the ALDS last season was bigger. But still. Encarnacion hit the second best homer in Toronto since Carter's. That's still pretty awesome.

The O's lost without Britton throwing a pitch

Once the game got to the 11th inning, I assumed Britton was hurt. Why else wouldn't he be in the game? The season was on the line and he's allowed one earned run since April. You can't save your best pitcher for a save opportunity that might never come. And yet, that's exactly what Showalter did.

Oh boy. Britton wasn't hurt. He was available and ready to pitch, but it never happened, and the Orioles lost a winner-take-all game without using the most dominant force in the game this season. That's inexusable.

Both of the following two statements are true:

  1. Buck Showalter is a great manager who is typically excellent at leveraging his relievers.
  2. Buck Showalter made a horrible decision in the Wild Card Game by not using Britton.

Maybe Showalter is covering for an injury? Maybe Britton tweaked something warming up and couldn't go? Otherwise I don't understand at all. This is going to go down as one of the worst managerial decisions in recent baseball history, hands down.

The O's offense disappeared

With two outs in the sixth inning, Machado reached on a soft infield single to second base in which Stroman failed to cover first base. That was the last hit of the season for the Orioles. The offense went 0 for 16 with one walk the rest of the way. There were a lot of weak at-bats too. Lots of bad swings and chases off the plate. Question the bullpen moves if you want. The O's lost because the offense went to sleep.

The roof was open

For the first time ever, the Rogers Centre roof was open for a postseason game.

Ultimately, MLB has the final say as to whether the roof is open for a postseason game. The Blue Jays recommended an open roof Tuesday night thanks to the nice weather in Toronto, and MLB gave them the thumbs up. As always, the crew was on hand in case it needed to be closed at a moment's notice. Still pretty cool.

Finally, we once had a live blog in here. Relive the commentary live if you wish. You'll see we are not second-guessing Showalter not using Britton -- we were first-guessing early on:

See you Wednesday night for the NL Wild Card Game.