MLBThe Cheat SheetBy Matt Clapp on

The Toronto Blue Jays won a wacky AL Wild Card game in walk-off dinger fashion… and they may not have, had Orioles manager Buck Showalter actually used his best pitcher. Twitter absolutely destroyed him for it, as you’ll see in this post. Let’s get to all that and much more in the Wednesday Cheat Sheet. It’s go time!

Edwin Encarnacion hits walk-off homer to put the Blue Jays in the ALDS, after Buck Showalter inexplicably doesn’t use Zach Britton

So, the AL Wild Card Game between the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles happened last night, and boy did it deliver as a terrific way to start up the 2016 MLB postseason. We’ll start with how the Blue Jays won before we get into two other things that were big storylines coming out of the game (of course, one of those things may be a huge reason why the Blue Jays won, but first I’ll show what the Blue Jays actually did themselves).

Toronto got a tremendous team pitching effort, as starter Marcus Stroman threw a solid six innings (with two earned runs allowed), and the bullpen was absolutely sensational with five shutout, no-hit innings.

Offensively, Jose Bautista got the game’s first run on the board in the third inning with this blast to left:

Fast-forward to the bottom of the 11th, when Edwin Encarancion hit a no-doubter for a three-run dinger to give the Blue Jays a 5-2 win, sending them to the ALDS to face the Texas Rangers (meaning we will have a Jose Bautista-Rougned Odor five-game series!). And yes, Edwin didn’t forget to take the parrot for a walk around the bases:

An absolutely awesome way to win a playoff game game and hopefully a sign of things to come the rest of this MLB postseason.

But… what everyone’s talking about following the game — and what everyone was talking about on Twitter starting in about the eighth inning — was a player we didn’t see in the game: Orioles closer Zach Britton. The guy that had 0.54 (!) ERA in 67 innings on the year, and allowed just one earned run since the beginning of May. The guy that has a disappearing 97 mph sinker. The guy that may win the AL Cy Young this year as a reliever.

Britton never entered an elimination game that was tied from the sixth inning until the game’s final batter in the 11th! Even when the Blue Jays had the winning run on third base with one out in the 11th and star slugger Edwin Encarnacion up. Britton was nowhere to be seen. Twitter understandably had a lot of excellent reaction to this:

So was Britton hurt? Nope. Showalter said that Britton “was fine” and said how Ubaldo Jimenez (who allowed the three-run homer) has been pitching better than anyone on the Orioles… which simply isn’t true! Britton is the one with a 0.54 ERA. Jimenez is the one with a 5.44 ERA.

So you knew Twitter would have fun with this too:

As you’d imagine, Britton wasn’t too pleased about it himself:

Oh, and then there was an incident in the seventh inning where some moron threw a can of beer towards Orioles left fielder Hyun Soo Kim:

Just incredibly stupid as it could injure the player, interfere with the play… and it’s a total waste of what is like a $9 beer at the ballpark.

Quick Hits

Back to the Future shoes

– Maria Sharapova’s two-year suspension for a banned substanced has been reduced to a 15-month suspension. She will be able to return in April 2017, right in time for the French Open.

– Deadspin’s Patrick Redford explains how we probably won’t see Ben Simmons play this season due to his foot fracture. 🙁

– It was a big day in Odell Beckham Jr. news after he had a rough Sunday Night Football game in the Giants’ loss to the Vikings. Eli Manning said how OBJ “has kind of brought that on himself” regarding a taunting penalty the wide receiver had in the game… and later on Monday, OBJ said how he’s “not having fun anymore” in the NFL. Welp.

– If you still happen to have Justin Forsett on your fantasy team, you may want to change that… as he’s been released by the Ravens.

– I wasn’t too kind to now former Arizona Diamondbacks general manager Dave Stewart after he said, “Quite frankly, I’ve got better things to do.”

– Your guide to legally streaming the MLB postseason.

– Just when you think things can’t get much worse for the Purdue football program… their stadium is now dealing with a sinkhole.

– On Saturday vs Clemson, Boston College will wear red bandana uniforms to honor 9/11 hero Welles Crowther.

– Those Nike Back to the Future power-lace shoes are now available.

– Chuck E. Cheese brawl!

– Video of Hurricane Matthew from space is terrifying.

– The ‘Punisher’ Netflix series has begun filming, and should be absolutely awesome. Jon Bernthal was incredible as the character in Daredevil Season 2 and it will be awesome to see Bernthal play the character for its own series.

One last glorious moment of procrastination

If you’re unhappy right now and don’t want to go to work/school/whatever, just remember, you could be this guy:

Cyclist gets hit by parking barrier

Happy Wednesday, and stay tuned for more MLB Wild Card action tonight when Noah Syndergaard and the New York Mets host Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants.

About Matt Clapp

Matt is an editor at The Comeback. He attended Colorado State University, wishes he was Saved by the Bell's Zack Morris, and idolizes Larry David. And loves pizza and dogs because obviously.

He can be followed on Twitter at @Matt2Clapp (also @TheBlogfines for Cubs/MLB tweets and @DaBearNecess for Bears/NFL tweets), and can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.

View all posts by Matt Clapp