Toronto will see postseason baseball for the first time in 22 years, when the Blue Jays won their second of two consecutive World Series champions.
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Bautista and Encarnacion, meanwhile, were among many offensive contributors Wednesday afternoon at Camden Yards, where the visiting Blue Jays (92-66) clinched their first division title since 1993 with a 15-2 shellacking of the Orioles in the first half of the double header. Wilson has kept the ball in the park in all but one trip to the mound this season, but he has allowed two walks in each of his last four outings. Anthopoulos traded a slew of prospects to acquire ace pitcher David Price, all-star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, left fielder Ben Revere among others.
“We didn’t even look that far”.
“As poorly as we played in the first game is as well as we played in the second game”, Showalter said. They weren’t going to lose twice to the 76-80 Orioles.
The new Magic Number for the Toronto Blue Jays is three. After waiting this long to toast a division title, a few hours probably wasn’t going to make much of a difference. He held the Orioles to one run over eighth innings, allowing five hits and striking out eight. “I’ve done my part and so has everybody else on this team. I’m just thankful for everybody who helped me get to this point”.
Those moves worked like a charm, making the Blue Jays’ 50-51 record in late July feel like a distant memory. The 26-year-old enjoyed a similarly strong performance against Toronto earlier this season, yielding just one run on five hits in 5 2/3 frames in a no-decision. Then, two RBI singles by Kevin Pillar and Darwin Barney gave the Blue Jays a 15-1 advantage.
It was the 41st time in 157 games Toronto scored eight or more runs.
If the hot streak continues, they’ll have the best record in the American League, meaning Canada’s only Major League Baseball franchise will have home-field advantage throughout post-season play.
Everyone in the lineup got at least one hit for a total of 18.
“I wake up every day with a huge grin on my face”.
And they aren’t just the team, but also its fans. Over at the pitching side, David Price has been better than advertised after his mid-season pick-up, while veterans RA Dickey and Mark Buehrle have been steady after rough starts. They chanted “M-V-P” whenever third baseman Josh Donaldson did anything and repeatedly yelled out “Let’s go, Jays“, usually drowning out the Baltimore fans.
A year ago, Baltimore celebrated its first AL East title since 1997.
The Mets lost again to the last-place Phillies, which is worrisome as they’re battling with the Dodgers for home-field in the NLDS.
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Rookie right-hander Williams Perez threw six spotless innings as the Atlanta Braves claimed a 2-0 shut-out win over the Washington Nationals, the Tampa Bay Rays overcame the Miami Marlins 6-4 and the Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago White Sox 5-3.
