The AL Wild Card game between the Orioles and Blue Jays was last night and the MLB postseason is now officially underway.

It was a cool, clear night at the Rogers Centre in Toronto and it provided the perfect setting for a win-or-go-home baseball game. The two participants in this year’s first postseason game were the AL East rivals, Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays. The Blue Jays came out on top of this nail-biter of a game, winning 5-2 in extra innings.

The people of Toronto made sure the home-field advantage did not go to waste; they had the stadium rocking from start to finish. The crowd roared especially loud when outfielder Jose Bautista smacked a ball out to left field in the bottom of the second inning. The ball made its way to the left field crowd for a solo home run, giving the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead early in the ball game.

Bautista’s home run kicked off a back-and-forth game. Orioles’ outfielder, Adam Jones, was on second base with two outs when Mark Trumbo came up to bat. Trumbo ended up blasting a ball to left field, barely making it over the wall, giving his O’s the 2-1 lead in the fourth inning.

It did not take long for the Blue Jays to even up the score; Ezequiel Carrera got a base hit in the bottom of the fifth inning, scoring teammate Michael Saunders. The hit tied up the game at two and it stood that way until the game headed to extra innings.

There were no runs scored in the sixth, seventh, eighth, or ninth innings, leaving fans of both teams anxious and worried. It was either win and move on to the next round; or lose, and try again next year.

Neither team was able to get an advantage in extra innings until the Blue Jays came up with a couple of huge hits in the bottom of the 11th, giving first baseman Edward Encarnarcion a chance to drive in the winning run and become a hero to the people in Canada.

With two on and the game on the line, it was anticipated that Orioles’ pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez would pitch carefully to Encarnarcion. Instead, on the very first pitch to the Blue Jays’ first baseman, Jimenez left the ball right over the plate, and Encarnarcion made him pay for it. Once the ball left the bat, everybody watching the game knew it was over. Encarnarcion absolutely crushed the ball, bringing in himself and two teammates for a walk-off three-run home run.

The 5-2 victory advances the Blue Jays on to the ALDS, where they will meet the Texas Rangers in a must-see series.

Earlier in the year, in a regular season game, a fight broke out between the two teams. Now they meet in the postseason, standing in each other’s way of a title shot. It’ll be interesting to see if any extra-curricular activities pop off between the Jays and Rangers as they battle for a spot in the World Series.