After an intense finish to the regular season, which saw both American League wild-card spots clinched on the seasons final day, the playoffs are finally here, with the Orioles visiting the Blue Jays to open the festivities.?Will Toronto rule at home, or will it be Baltimore marching on to the AL Division Series?Go inside the numbers and matchups that will decide Tuesday nights game, and then vote for which team will win at the bottom of the page.Inside the pitching matchupWhen Tillman is on the mound:?Buck Showalter goes with the steadier hand of Tillman over the hot hand of the unpredictable Ubaldo Jimenez (who pitched 6? one-hit innings against the Blue Jays on Sept. 29). Its not clear Tillman is completely healthy after missing three weeks in late August and early September with shoulder bursitis. His average fastball velocity in his last start was 90.1 mph, well below his season average of 91.7 -- although he limited the Blue Jays to two runs (one earned) in 5? innings in that outing. Perhaps as a result of the decline in velocity, he has been throwing fewer fastballs down the stretch -- his season rate was 56 percent, but he has been below 50 percent his past three starts. He pitches up in the zone with the fastball, which leads to a high fly ball rate, and utilizes a conventional four-pitch repertoire. He didnt show any platoon split this year (.323 wOBA versus lefties, .326 versus righties).Of course, if any team is going to turn a wild-card game into a bullpen game, it should be the Orioles. Showalter may not ask Tillman to go much more than one time through the order, perhaps going to Jimenez or Dylan Bundy for a couple innings, and then hoping to get to his late-game relievers. Brad Brach has pitched two innings five times this year and Zach Britton has gone more than three outs seven times, including two innings against the Blue Jays in a July extra-inning game. At the minimum, Showalter should be asking three innings out of those two. -- David SchoenfieldWhen Stroman is on the mound: Some believed John Gibbons would go with Francisco Liriano?because the Orioles, despite all their right-handed power, have the lowest OPS in the AL against southpaws. Instead, Gibbons goes with the guy who delivered a clutch effort in Game 5 of the Division Series against the Rangers last year. Stroman is fun to watch -- a short righty with a six-pitch repertoire. He has gone to his sinker and cutter more this year, throwing those pitches more than 50 percent of the time, while mixing in his fastball, curve, slider and changeup. His game is all about keeping the ball down and getting grounders; he had the highest ground ball rate of any qualified starter in the majors. He has been very good his final 13 starts, posting a 3.24 ERA and allowing just seven home runs in 83? innings. Facing the team that led the majors in home runs, Stromans ability to limit the big fly will be the key.As for late-game relief, the Jays pen struggled down the stretch, including three late-game meltdowns the final week. Closer Roberto Osuna pitched six times in the seasons final nine days and twice allowed two runs. Setup man Jason Grilli allowed six runs in his final three outings. Thats why you may see Liriano in relief and possibly even Marco Estrada on three days rest. -- SchoenfieldPlayer in the spotlightManny Machado: The All-Star third baseman was injured when the Orioles made the playoffs in 2014, so his lone postseason trip came when he was a 20-year-old rookie in 2012. He hit .158 in six postseason games that year, so you know hes chomping to do something big. Machado didnt match his monster first half, sliding from a .944 OPS to .798, in part because he started chasing more pitches out of the zone. Machado feasts on fastballs, hitting .345/.398/.659, and has a much higher slugging percentage on pitches in the upper third of the zone, so look for Stroman to throw him a lot of offspeed stuff and sinkers at the bottom of the zone. -- SchoenfieldWhat will decide tonights gameHow they handle the heat: No two teams hit fastballs for home runs more often than the Orioles and Blue Jays. Baltimore led the majors with a 5.0 HR percentage against fastballs, while Toronto was second at 4.1 percent. Tillman has allowed a 1.9 percent home run rate against his fastball this season, compared to 3.5 percent against his other pitches. --?Ken Woolums, ESPN Stats & InfoChoosing sides: Who will win??The Orioles are a terrific story, but they earned a wild-card berth largely on the strength of a 50-31 record at Camden Yards. They went 39-42 on the road and 4-6 at Rogers Centre this season. If its a tight game, Britton and Showalters bullpen management give Baltimore the edge. But that Toronto lineup is a chore to navigate in the dome, and the Jays have just a little too much for the Os. -- Jerry Crasnick?With their 253 home runs and just 19 stolen bases, a friend compared the Orioles to a slow-pitch softball team. Yet with 89 wins, make that a very, very good slow-pitch softball team, like the one I was on that won my colleges intramural championship more years ago than I want to mention. While Jerry notes that the Orioles have struggled away from Baltimore, they did win four of six on the road last week, including two of three in Toronto. They also have Tillman going against Stroman, who was 9-10 with a 4.37 ERA and an even higher 7.04 ERA against Baltimore in three starts. And the Jays offense has not been that great lately. I look for a close and high-scoring game. I would not be willing to bet against either team, but I wouldnt be shocked to see the Orioles celebrating a victory on their bench with hot dogs and six-packs of beer.?-- Jim Caple?Home-field advantage hasnt meant much in these one-game affairs, with the visiting team winning six of the eight games played so far. Weve seen managers wait too long to go the bullpen in these games -- but I dont think Showalter will make the same mistake. So unless Tillman absolutely blows up in the first inning, I give a slight edge to the Os because of their bullpen depth and the reliability of Britton at the end of the game. -- SchoenfieldWhere the series standsIts all or nothing for these two teams as the winner moves on the face the Rangers on Thursday in Texas, and the loser can start making offseason tee times. --?ESPN.com Dres Ivan Perisic . Takahashi, who had a 10-point lead after the short program, received 268.31 points after the free skate to finish 15 points ahead of second-place Nobunari Oda. Ante Milan Badelj . -- PGA TOUR Canada member Steve Saunders took a three-stroke lead Saturday in the Web. http://www.dresovihrvatskereprezentacije.com/ . Thats about all he can do right now, so hes trying not to think about when he might be able to play again for the Los Angeles Lakers. Dres Marcelo Brozovic . The lawyers filed a 33-page amended complaint Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan, expanding on the suit originally filed Oct. 3 in New York Supreme Court. Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz last week refused to compel Selig to testify in the grievance, and Rodriguez then walked out of the hearing without testifying. Dresovi Dejan Lovren . Robinson finished with 17 points, all but two in the second half, and Lawson had 14 after halftime and finished with a game-high 11 assists as the Nuggets handed Dallas its first home loss in eight games this season. J.J. Hickson led Denver with 22, and Kenneth Faried added 10 points and 10 rebounds. MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Lynx voiced their support for change.The WNBA team wore black warm-up shirts that said on the front, Change starts with us -- Justice & Accountability. On the back of the shirt are the names Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, who were both fatally shot by police officers this past week.Castile was killed by a suburban St. Paul police officer during a traffic stop. Also on the back of the shirt is the Dallas police shield above the phrase Black Lives Matter.Before the Lynxs game against the Dallas Wings on Saturday night, captains Rebekkah Brunson and Maya Moore spoke in a news conference which the Lynx posted on their Facebook page. The two players were flanked by Minnesotas other captains, Lindsay Whalen and Seimone Augustus.If we take this time to see that this is a huuman issue and speak out together, we can greatly decrease fear and create change, Moore said.dddddddddddd Tonight we will be wearing shirts to honor and mourn the losses of precious American citizens and to plead for change in all of us.Moore also spoke about the Dallas shooting, in which five police officers were killed, during the nearly five-minute news conference. She praised that citys effort on leading the way in de-escalation training and other efforts that led to a noticeable drop in the number of shootings by officers in the last few years.The Lynx went on to win 93-56 to improve to 16-4 on the season.Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Nike NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys Store Wholesale Jerseys China Jerseys NFL China ' ' '