Jays-O's Wild Card: Our picks and why either team can win

Yesterday we asked, "Is baseball's wild card format even good? " Reviews were mixed and like Wild Card or not, here we are discussing tonight's game; the Toronto Blue Jays versus the Baltimore Orioles in a one-game showdown. 

Welcome back to the Yardbarker roundtable where we ask our experts to kickback, relax and just chat about sports in general. Time for us to put our money where our mouths are; Jays versus the O's. We asked our panelists:

Which team is your American League Wild Card pick and why?

Demetrius Bell: I'm going with the Orioles. Despite the fact that the Blue Jays probably have the best and craziest playoff atmosphere with all of those fans jam-packed inside of the Skydo--I mean, the Rogers Centre, the O's have proven that they can go in there and win big games. As recently as last week Baltimore won a three-game series in Toronto to keep their season alive so that they could be in this position now. Plus, in the rubber game of that series, they got two runs off of Marcus Stroman and ended up winning 4-0. Stroman's starting this game, and the O's have already proven that they can beat Stroman and they can win on the road in a hostile environment. It'll be a tough game, but I really believe in Baltimore for this one.

Shiloh Carder: Toronto.  I don't know who will actually win when it's a one-game deal like this, but I'm going to be rooting for the Blue Jays because I want another Toronto-Texas series to get caught up in.

Matt Whitener: I am going with the Blue Jays to pull this one out. This is despite the fact that the Jays have been narrowly been better than the Orioles this season (carrying a 10-9 advantage in the season series) and Oriole starter Chris Tillman has been very efferctive against them at Rogers Centre this year. Toronto has the ability to change the score in a hurry up and down their lineup, with six Jays' everyday guys topping 20 home runs.

While the offense gets the shine, it was just a year ago that Marcus Stroman rose to the occasion multiple times to carry the club along throughout the postseason. While the O's have hit him particularly well this year (7.07 ERA vs Baltimore), he is the right man for the job in this particular match up, due to his propensity to create the ground ball (60% of his outs came via ground outs). With a near-equally impressive O's lineup built around three 35+ homer bats in Manny Machado, Chris Davis and MLB-leader Mark Trumbo's 47 long balls, keeping the ball in the park will be a huge advantage and a necessity for either team to move on. Stroman has the edge there, as well as a flare for the dramatic, so it feels like a good day to be a Jay.

Jamie Neal: Blue Jays. While I think pitching is crucial to win a World Series, I think you can get by until the Championship Series before it will impact you in a way that a potent offense cant cover up. The Jays have so much offensive power on this squad that the O's aren't going to keep up. Toronto's pitching isn't their strongest point, but the starting rotation is good enough to keep them in every game.

Additionally, I'm a fan of Jose Bautista and his epic heel turn.  I want to see him bat flip his way through the Divisional Series and make more people despise him for Making Baseball Great Again.

Phillip Barnett: When you have two teams with neither having a clear-cut advantage over the other, you generally want to run with the home team -- but Toronto doesn't even have that much of an advantage there with the fourth-best home record in the division this year. Baltimore is built for power, and if they can put enough runs on the board heading into the late innings, you have to like their chances as closer Zach Britton has been perfect in save opportunities this season. Although Toronto floundered down the stretch, this is still an awfully dangerous team, but I like Baltimore's chances to steal a place in the ALDS with a big win in the Roger's Centre.

David Matthews: I'm picking the Blue Jays. It feels like they're going to just hammer the O's in the play-in game, which is what they'll probably need since the O's absolutely owned Marcus Stroman this season. Something like 8-5 sounds about right. Plus, a rematch of last year's Rangers-Jays series is something that I think everyone outside of Maryland really, really wants to see.