By: J.P. Antonacci

Canadian Baseball Network

Long before its unforgettable conclusion, Tuesday night’s American League Wild Card Game qualified as a playoff classic.

There were the Blue Jays, Canada’s team, taking on their hated division rivals the Baltimore Orioles after stumbling badly over the season’s final month, only to sneak into this sudden-death playoff after two stirring wins against the division-leading Boston Red Sox.

Those victories ensured the wild card game would be played in Toronto, which set up its heart-stopping conclusion while arming the Jays with what has been their not-so-secret weapon since last summer – almost 50,000 full-throated fans that fill the dome with ballistic cheering from before the first pitch and don’t let up until long after the final play.

The Jays and Orioles finished the regular season with identical records, and that parity played out in real time for the better part of Tuesday’s contest. 

Marcus Stroman, the excitable young hurler with an appetite for big moments that matches his endless bravado, was tabbed to start, a decision that left some fans feeling uneasy – Francisco Liriano being the statistically sounder choice. 

But the Stro Show was on point this night, allowing just two runs – thanks to a long fly by the league’s home run king, Mark Trumbo – and keeping his team in the game. 

Alas, the Blue Jay batters could not solve Baltimore starter Chris Tillman. Toronto scratched across two runs – the first courtesy of last year’s bat-flipping playoff hero, Jose Bautista – and that is where the score would stay as the innings grinded on and the tension mounted. 

Toronto’s bullpen, hardly a sure thing of late, was flawless, holding the Orioles hitless from the seventh on. Roberto Osuna, the ice-cold 21-year-old closer, was again brilliant, employing a surprise stuttering motion to bamboozle the mighty Trumbo and keep the Orioles off the board.

But Baltimore’s seemingly endless supply of flame-throwing relievers similarly clipped Toronto’s wings.

It was wonderfully tense playoff baseball. Fans groaned every time a Toronto player hit into a rally-killing double play, and exulted with every strikeout recorded by Rule 5 revelation Joe Biagini and Blue Jay spirit animal Jason Grilli.

Liriano, the erstwhile starter, performed masterfully out of the pen, summoned in a hurry after Osuna exited with an injury fans are praying doesn’t linger. 

Heading into the bottom of the 11th, the clock inching towards Wednesday, the Blue Jays had the heart of their order coming up, looking for the elusive run needed to end the game and Baltimore’s season.

Buck Showalter, thrice over his long career named the league’s best manager, elected to go with Ubaldo Jimenez, like Liriano a starter pressed into bullpen duty on a day when pretty well any pitcher could be called upon. 

In isolation, this was not a bad move. Jimenez had stifled the Jays bats just five days prior, and there was no telling how long this scoreless war of attrition might last. 

That said, the Blue Jays had their best coming to the plate while Baltimore’s best, Zach Britton – a Cy Young candidate who locked down 47 straight saves this year while posting the league’s best earned run average – remained in the bullpen. 

He and everyone else looked on as slugger Edwin Encarnacion joined Bautista, Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter on the elite list of Blue Jays sluggers who defined a season with a single blow.

With Devon Travis and Josh Donaldson having reached base, Encarnacion took a mighty cut at the first pitch he saw from Jimenez, depositing the baseball in the second deck and sending an entire baseball-loving nation into delirium.

That one swing brought welcome catharsis after a frustrating month that tried the souls of even the most ardent Blue Jays fans.

All that heartache is now forgotten. Bring on the Rangers.