Blue Jays-Orioles AL Wildcard Game Preview

• While the two clubs finished the regular season with the same record, the Jays took the the regular-season series 10-9 and will host on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET on TBS/SNET). While the regular-season record was close between the teams, the Jays out-scored Baltimore 97-81 as O's starters compiled a 5.82 ERA. The two teams also combined for 57 homers in their head-to-head matchup, setting up a potential shootout at the hitter-friendly Rogers Centre. 

•  Right-hander Marcus Stroman (9-10, 4.37 ERA) will start for the Blue Jays in front of 40,000-plus raucous Toronto fans. Stroman is 1-0 with a 4.19 ERA in three postseason starts but has a 5.27 ERA in seven games against the O's in his young career. Right-hander Chris Tillman (16-6, 3.77 ERA) has been the best pitcher for Baltimore all season and will start Tuesday although he has a 6.00 ERA in his last five appearances and a 7.01 ERA in 13 career starts at the Rogers Centre. 
  The winner of the wild-card game will travel to Arlington to face the Texas Rangers on Thursday in Game 1 of the AL Division Series. 

• Orioles sluggers Mark Trumbo (47), Chris Davis (38), and Manny Machado (37) are the first set of three Baltimore teammates with at least 30 home runs each in a season. The Orioles finished the regular season with a MLB-best 253 home runs.
  —In the running for the Cy Young Award, Baltimore closer Zach Britton has converted an MLB-best 49 consecutive save opportunities, dating to October 1, 2015. The southpaw owned a 0.54 ERA during the regular season and became the third pitcher in major league history have had an ERA below 1.00 in a season with at least 40 saves.

• Could we be in for more postseason bat-flips from Jose Bautista? Of his 22 homers this season, 16 have put the Blue Jays ahead and his last six have either tied the game or put out in front.
  —Of Edwin Encarnacion's career-high 158 hits this season, 76 have gone for extra bases (34 doubles, 42 homers). The slugger finished the regular season second in MLB with 127 RBIs. Since 2012, only Davis (197) has more homers than Encarnacion (193)

• Blue Jays starters have held their opponent to three earned runs or less in 24 of their last 29 games and are the only AL team with a starters' ERA under 4.00.
  —While the starters have pitched well, the Blue Jays' bullpen has 32 losses this year, becoming the first major league team to reach the postseason with more than 30 losses in relief.
  —The Orioles aren't built to play small-ball. The club has just 17 sacrifice bunts and 19 stolen bases on the season, the fewest in MLB. The club's hitters are also in the bottom third in on-base percentage (.310) and strikeouts (721) on the road this season.