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American League Wild Card GameThread: Baltimore Orioles at Toronto Blue Jays

Baltimore’s Orioles and Toronto’s Blue Jays meet in the Rogers Centre tonight at 8:00 PM in the AL Wild Card Game on TBS.

Division Series - Texas Rangers v Toronto Blue Jays - Game Two Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images

Baltimore Orioles’ manager Buck Showalter talked to reporters on Monday about going into a winner-takes-all matchup like tonight’s American League Wild Card Game with the Toronto Blue Jays. It’s different, Showalter acknowledged.

“There is a sense of finality,” Showalter said. “There are times during the season you may not put your best foot forward so you can be consistent over the long haul, because of health and putting people in harm's way. Not that we'll do that tomorrow, but there are some differences that you have to grasp. You don't worry about tomorrow or the next day. Everything is about that nine innings or 10 or 11, whatever it might be.

“There are some times during the course of the game that it may happen earlier than usual that you may attack it differently. You also have some things available to you from a bullpen standpoint and a bench that you don't during the season.”

Fighting for the right to compete in tonight’s game, Blue Jays’ skipper John Gibbons said, helped to prepare his team for the nature of tonight’s win-or-go-home tension.

“You know, I would think it has to,” Gibbons said. “You look back over the past few years, a lot of Wild Card teams have done very well. Maybe that's the reason. You normally have to take it down to the very end, and maybe that does something to you, hardens you up a little bit. I'm not sure. But the fact that it's two teams that have done that, so I don't know who has the advantage in that.

“But I've got to believe just from looking at the results from the last few years, maybe it does benefit you for whoever advances, anyway.”

One team will have their season end tonight. Who’s going to move on to face the Texas Rangers in the ALDS?

We’ll find out at 8:00 PM tonight. Chris Tillman for the Orioles vs Marcus Stroman for the Blue Jays.

Today's Lineups

BALTIMORE ORIOLES TORONTO BLUE JAYS
Adam Jones - CF Devon Travis - 2B
Hyun Soo Kim - LF Josh Donaldson - 3B
Manny Machado - 3B Edwin Encarnacion - 1B
Mark Trumbo - DH Jose Bautista - RF
Matt Wieters - C Russell Martin - C
Chris Davis - 1B Troy Tulowitzki - SS
Jonathan Schoop - 2B Michael Saunders - DH
Michael Bourn - RF Kevin Pillar - CF
J.J. Hardy - SS Ezequiel Carrera - LF
Chris Tillman - RHP Marcus Stroman - RHP

Tillman vs the Blue Jays:

Blue Jays PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS SH SF IBB HBP GDP missG
Edwin Encarnacion 63 58 17 3 3 5 4 7 .293 .333 .500 .833 1 3
Jose Bautista 54 45 12 4 3 7 8 11 .267 .370 .556 .926 1
Josh Donaldson 36 35 9 5 1 7 1 4 .257 .278 .486 .763 2
Ryan Goins 28 27 9 1 2 1 6 .333 .357 .444 .802
Kevin Pillar 24 23 8 1 3 6 4 .348 .333 .783 1.116 1 2
Russell Martin 23 14 6 3 1 7 2 .429 .652 .643 1.295 2
Michael Saunders 23 21 6 1 2 3 2 3 .286 .348 .619 .967 2
Dioner Navarro 21 21 6 1 2 3 .286 .286 .333 .619
Justin Smoak 20 15 3 1 1 5 4 .200 .400 .267 .667
Melvin Upton 17 14 3 1 1 2 3 1 .214 .353 .500 .853
Troy Tulowitzki 13 12 5 1 3 5 2 .417 .462 1.250 1.712 1
Ezequiel Carrera 11 10 3 1 3 1 .300 .364 .600 .964 1
Devon Travis 9 8 3 2 1 7 1 1 .375 .444 1.000 1.444
Dalton Pompey 7 7 4 1 2 1 4 1 .571 .571 1.714 2.286
Darwin Barney 4 4 3 .000 .000 .000 .000
Total 353 314 94 24 2 20 55 32 53 .299 .368 .580 .948 3 4 9

Stroman vs the Orioles:

Orioles PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS SH SF IBB HBP GDP missG
Adam Jones 16 15 6 2 1 1 .400 .438 .400 .838 1
Matt Wieters 15 14 5 1 2 6 1 2 .357 .400 .857 1.257
Chris Davis 14 13 4 2 4 .308 .286 .308 .593 1
Jonathan Schoop 14 14 3 1 1 1 .214 .214 .286 .500
Manny Machado 13 12 3 1 1 3 2 .250 .231 .583 .814 1
Mark Trumbo 12 11 5 2 1 2 .455 .500 .636 1.136 1
Ryan Flaherty 11 11 3 1 1 4 3 .273 .273 .636 .909 1
J.J. Hardy 11 11 1 1 1 .091 .091 .182 .273 1
Hyun Soo Kim 9 7 3 1 1 .429 .556 .429 .984 1
Pedro Alvarez 8 8 3 1 1 2 .375 .375 .750 1.125
Michael Bourn 8 7 2 1 1 2 .286 .375 .286 .661 1
Caleb Joseph 3 3 1 .000 .000 .000 .000
Paul Janish 1 1 .000 .000 .000 .000
Total 135 127 38 7 5 21 5 21 .299 .326 .472 .798 2 1 5