2016 AL Wild Card Game Preview

AL Wild Card Game: Baltimore (89-73) at Toronto (89-73) 8:00 PM EST, televised on TBS

Pitching Matchup: Stroman (9-10, 4.37 ERA) vs. Tillman (16-6, 3.77 ERA)

First off, let me start by saying that the Wild Card one game playoff is the best thing to happen to baseball in a long time. It instills an urgency to win your division and makes for more entertaining regular season games. Anyway, on to this game itself. Both of these teams finished behind the AL East Champion Boston Red Sox. The Blue Jays are the better team despite having the same record as the Orioles, but I’m taking Baltimore in this game.

The Orioles thrive off of the home run ball, and Stroman has given up a good amount this season, 21 to be exact. That’s 0.9 per 9 innings. Not among the best in the league to say the least. I do like the guts that Stroman has and happen to respect his work ethic a lot, but I can see him getting into trouble early against guys that excel at hitting the long ball like Jonathan Schoop, Manny Machado, Chris Davis, and of course the MLB Home Run leader, Mark Trumbo.

On the other side of the mound, you’ve got Chris Tillman. The Orioles are 22-6 when he takes the mound this season and I believe that trend will stay true to itself. I understand that you may say “Well Will, the environment in Toronto during a playoff game will rattle any pitcher!” You may very well be right, but there’s something in me that thinks Tillman will go out there and completely shut out all the bandwagon noise around him. (Yes that’s a shot at all of the Toronto “fans” that have no clue who Roy Halladay and Vernon Wells are.)

Both teams have potent offenses but in the end, I think it will come down to the Blue Jays being in the game, but the bullpen losing it for them in the late innings. On the other hand, The Orioles have one of the best bullpens in baseball. The Jays better hope they’re not trailing in the 9th because if so, it's all but over. Baltimore’s closer, Zach Britton is putting up ridiculous numbers (an absurd ERA of 0.54) and will most definitely shut down any team he faces.

Expect the game to go like this: Orioles jump out to an early 2-0 lead by the 2nd inning, by the 5th, it’s 4-2 Orioles and by the 8th it’s 6-2 Orioles. In the 9th the O’s bring out Britton and it’s game over by then. It should be an entertaining game for a while, but Baltimore will pull away at the end. It’s a great time of year everyone, playoff baseball is officially back tonight.