The 163rd game finally separated Blue Jays and Orioles

By: Andrew Hendriks

Canadian Baseball Network

TORONTO - It took 163 to determine which team was superior.

Although Toronto edged Baltimore 10-9 over 19 regular season matchups, a wild-card tilt was needed not only to decide which team would advance to the latter rounds of 2016's postseason but also which club could improve on their individual 89-73 regular-season record.

In the end, it was the Blue Jays who came out on top. And they did it the Oriole way.

The self-proclaimed sorest loser that ever lived, Baltimore's Hall of Fame Manager Earl Weaver, once said that the key to winning ball games lied in pitching, defence, and the three-run homer.

On Tuesday, the Blue Jays proved him right.

Pitching: Marcus Stroman picked up the start and, having limited the O's to a pair of runs on four hits over six innings of work, turned in one of his strongest single game performances of the year. Behind their 24-year-old right-hander, the Blue Jays bullpen recorded another five frames of no-hit ball while striking out six and allowing only one free pass on the night.

Defence: A lot of Stroman's success can be credited to seven players who took the field behind him on Tuesday. With one out and a runner on second, Kevin Pillar made yet another Superman-esk dive in order to snag a tailing line drive off the bat of Manny Machado. An inning later, Troy Tulowitzki left his feet and knocked down a scorching ground ball struck by Jonathan Schoop.

Statcast tells us that Tulo's 99-foot throw was clocked 83.7 MPH, and that the play took about 10 seconds to develop. Not to be outdone, Josh Donaldson also got into the action by nabbing Matt Wieters at first with a brilliant bare-handed play to lead off the seventh.

Three-Run Home Run: With runners on first and third in the bottom of the eleventh, Edwin Encarnacion stepped up to the plate and delivered. All Toronto needed was a fly ball, one deep enough to plate Devon Travis who was standing at third with less than two outs. They got exactly that as Encarnacion promptly deposited the first pitch he saw from Ubaldo Jimenez over the wall in left field.

In addition to knocking Toronto's first walk-off home run since Joe Carter "touched 'em all" in 1993, Encarnacion's game-winning blast also represented his fifth with the Blue Jays, three of which have now come in extra innings.

The Blue Jays Wild Card win sets up a rematch of 2015's dramatic American League Divisional Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Texas Rangers.

Thursday's series opener in Arlington will represent the first time the two clubs have met since Rougned Odor took exception to a hard slide from Jose Bautista and proceeded to deck him square in the face before both benches cleared and the two were separated last May.

In addition to the late slide at second, Odor's punch was also a by-product of Texas' desire to get even with the Blue Jays after what transpired between the two clubs last October. More specifically, Bautista himself after Toronto's slugging right fielder launched the pivotal 3-run home run in Game 5 of the 2015 ALDS that gave us the "bat flip heard 'round the world".

In 2016, Toronto won three of the four meetings between the two clubs whole outscoring the Rangers 36-21 on the year.

HOW THEY STACK UP

OPS: Toronto and Texas finished the 2016 season with the same total (.755).

Home Runs: This one goes to the Blue Jays, who edged Texas 221 to 215 in 2016.

Runs: Texas takes this category outscoring Toronto 765 to 759.

Team ERA: Toronto led the American League in this department (3.78). Conversely, Texas ranked 13th with a 4.37 marker.

Team WHIP: Like earned run average, the Blue Jays staff dominated in this department allowing a WHIP of 1.23 on the season. Again Texas ranked 13th in the AL with a 1.37 figure.

Strikeouts: Toronto again with 1314 on the season, 160 more than Texas' 1154 in 2016.