The 2016 American League Wild Card Game was a play-in game during

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

's (MLB) 2016 postseason played between the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

's (AL) two wild card teams, the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

and the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

. As both teams finished with identical 89–73 records, a tiebreaker was used to determine the host team. In accordance with MLB tiebreaking rules, the Blue Jays earned the right to host the game by winning their season series against the Orioles 10–9. The Blue Jays beat the Orioles, 5–2, in extra innings. This is the Orioles' last postseason appearance to date.

Background

This was Toronto's first appearance in the

Wild Card Game The Wild Card Series (formerly known as Wild Card Game from 2012 to 2019 and in 2021) are games that serve as the opening round of the Major League Baseball (MLB) Major League Baseball postseason, postseason. A single wild card game was first ...

and their first overall appearance as a wild card (when it was first introduced in 1995), and their second consecutive postseason appearance after winning the AL East Division the previous season. It was the second appearance in a Wild Card Game both for Baltimore and its manager

Buck Showalter William Nathaniel "Buck" Showalter III (born May 23, 1956) is an American professional baseball manager for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB). Previously, he served as manager of the New York Yankees (1992–1995), Arizona Diamondb ...

. Showalter's Orioles defeated the Texas Rangers in the inaugural AL Wild Card Game in 2012. This was the first postseason meeting between the two teams. The game was played at 8:00 pm EDT on October 4, 2016 at

Rogers Centre Rogers Centre (originally SkyDome) is a multi-purpose retractable roof stadium in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated at the base of the CN Tower near the northern shore of Lake Ontario. Opened in 1989 on the former Railway Lands, it ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, with the winner advancing to play the first-seeded Texas Rangers in the Division Series. It was televised in the United States on TBS, while

Sportsnet Sportsnet is a Canadian English-language sports specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media. It was established in 1998 as CTV Sportsnet, a joint venture between CTV, Liberty Media, and Rogers Media. CTV parent Bell Globemedia then ...

, a property of Blue Jays owner Rogers Communications, simulcast the TBS production in Canada. The retractable dome at Rogers Centre was open for the game, the first time this was done for a postseason contest at the venue. This was the second Wild Card Game played between teams with identical regular season records, and the second time for the

. Under the 1995-2011 playoff format, the teams would have played a

one-game playoff A one-game playoff, sometimes known as a pennant playoff, tiebreaker game or knockout game, is a tiebreaker in certain sports—usually but not always professional—to determine which of two teams, tied in the final standings, will qualify for a ...

to determine the Wild Card team.

Game results

Line score

Toronto and Baltimore turned to their Opening Day starters, as

Marcus Stroman Marcus Earl Stroman (born May 1, 1991) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Mets. Stroman is listed at , making him on ...

and Chris Tillman took the mound for their respective teams. The Blue Jays scored first with a home run by

José Bautista José Antonio Bautista Santos (born October 19, 1980), nicknamed "Joey Bats", is a Dominican special advisor for the general manager of the Leones del Escogido and former professional baseball right fielder and third baseman. He played in Majo ...

leading off the second inning. The Orioles responded two innings later with a go-ahead two-run homer from

Mark Trumbo Mark Trumbo (born January 16, 1986) is an American former professional baseball first baseman and outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim from 2010 through 2013, for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2 ...

. The Blue Jays recorded three hits in the fifth on their way to scoring the tying run. The Toronto Blue Jays won the game 5–2 in the 11th inning when

Edwin Encarnación Edwin Elpidio Encarnación (born January 7, 1983) is a Dominican former professional baseball designated hitter, third baseman and first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds, Toronto Blue Jays, Cleveland Ind ...

hit a walk-off three-run homer off Ubaldo Jiménez.

Zach Britton Zackary Grant Britton (born December 22, 1987), known professionally as Zach Britton until February 2019, is a professional baseball pitcher who is currently a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles an ...

, the Orioles' closer and 2016 American League Reliever of the Year, controversially did not appear in the game. The Blue Jays advanced to the American League Division Series to face the Rangers for the second consecutive time in the postseason; their first meeting was in the previous year's American League Division Series. Encarnación became only the fourth player to end a winner-take-all postseason game (that is, a game in which one team or the other was sure to be eliminated) with a walk-off home run, joining Bill Mazeroski (

1960 World Series The 1960 World Series was played between the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates season, Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League (NL) and the 1960 New York Yankees season, New York Yankees of the American League (AL) from October 5–13, 1960. In Game 7, ...

), Chris Chambliss (

1976 ALCS The 1976 American League Championship Series was a best-of-five playoff pitting the New York Yankees against the Kansas City Royals for the American League pennant and the right to represent the American League in the 1976 World Series. The Yanke ...

) and Aaron Boone (

2003 ALCS The 2003 American League Championship Series (ALCS) was played between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees from October 8 to 16, 2003. The Yankees won the series four games to three to advance to the World Series, where they lost in six ...

References

External links

2016 Major League Baseball season scheduleSchedule for 2016 Postseason
{{Portal bar, Baseball, Canada

American League Wild Card Game The Wild Card Series (formerly known as Wild Card Game from 2012 to 2019 and in 2021) are games that serve as the opening round of the Major League Baseball (MLB) postseason. A single wild card game was first instituted in 2012; best-of-three ...

2016 American League Wild Card Game The 2016 American League Wild Card Game was a play-in game during Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2016 Major League Baseball season, 2016 postseason played between the American League's (AL) two Major League Baseball wild card, wild card teams, th ...

Baltimore Orioles postseason Toronto Blue Jays postseason 2016 in Toronto