No surprises when O’s face Jays in AL wild-card game

4, with the American League wild-card game between the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre in Toronto.

The Nationals, who will host the series opener on Friday, have a solid pitching corps to complement their offense but will need to overcome injuries to a number of All-Stars if they are to erase memories of early playoff exits in 2012 and 2014.

Tillman took a no-decision against the Blue Jays in his final start of the regular season, allowing two runs, one earned, and six hits in 5 2/3 innings last Wednesday.

The Blue Jays announced that Marcus Stroman, with a 9-10 record on the season and 1-2 against the Orioles, would be taking the pitching mound to start the do-or-die game. San Francisco may be high on a four-game win streak to finish out the regular season, but the Mets have been riding a 18-11 wave since September 1.

According to a new Ipsos poll conducted for Global News, 35 per cent of Jays fans believe the team will win the American League Championship Series (ALCS) and make it to the World Series – however, 16 per cent think the team will be eliminated in the ALCS like past year.

In 32 games this year, Stroman has a 9-10 record and is sporting a sub five ERA at 4.37.

“Knowing the way the two teams play, there’s no way it’s going to be a low run game”, Bryan said.

The victor of the game will face the Cubs in a divisional playoff. “That energy’s back”, pitcher Jake Peavy said after a win over the Dodgers on Sunday. With the help of Zach Britton the Orioles have a decided edge towards the end of the game. Tillman hasn’t been going deep into games as of late, however. Both teams tied with 89 wins and 73 losses this season, but the Blue Jays won 10 of the 19 games played against the Orioles, including 6 of 10 games at home. Stroman has a (4-3, 4.59 ERA, 1.260 WHIP, 6.8 K/9) record at home this season.

The Orioles will counter with staff veteran Chris Tillman in hopes to stymie Toronto’s bats.

If the Jays do manage to pull out a win against the Orioles, they will face an old foe from the 2015 playoffs, the Texas Rangers. The right hander finished the year with 16 wins and an ERA of 3.77.

Public transportation might be your best bet if you plan on getting downtown Tuesday night.

“We are starting to see what’s it’s like to be a Yankees fan”, said vice president of Ipsos Canada Sean Simpson.

The Blue Jays made the recommendation, and it was approved by Major League Baseball.

Power was in short supply for the Blue Jays during the final weeks of the season.

“(I) definitely had an up-and-down year and battled a lot of adversity”, Stroman said.

“I’m at a point now where I feel great, mechanics feel great, body feels great”.

“People actually recognized me – nobody ever really recognized me, and I kind of liked that fact. I’m not going to change our focus or turn this into a circus”. Toronto averaged 3.69 runs in September and October, their worst month of the year.

Orioles top hitters: 3B Manny Machado (.294, 37 HR, 96 RBIs); RF Mark Trumbo (.246, 47 HR, 108 RBIs); CF Adam Jones (.265, 29 HR, 83 RBIs); 1B Chris Davis (.221, 38 HR, 84 RBIs); 2B Jonathan Schoop (.267, 25 HR, 82 RBIs); C Matt Wieters (.243, 17 HR, 66 RBIs). As a result, the Jays get the honor of hosting the Orioles in front of a vicious and amplified crowd at Rogers Centre.