Final notes and quotes before wild card game (we're tied)

TORONTO - The Orioles broke out the black jerseys for tonight's wild card game. Fits their role of villains.

The crowd booed players as they walked onto the turf and grew louder with each introduction, beginning with manager Buck Showalter. Center fielder Adam Jones playfully lifted his cap as the decibel level increased.

Let's do this.

The Orioles moved two starters into their bullpen tonight with Ubaldo Jimenez and Dylan Bundy joining the relievers. Jimenez could be the first man up if Chris Tillman gets into early trouble.

Jimenez registered a 2.45 ERA in his last seven outings and likely was runner-up to Tillman for tonight's starting assignment.

Bundy isn't necessarily confined to a long relief role. He could be a power arm in the middle or late innings, part of the bridge that could lead to closer Zach Britton.

"They're all in play and they know it, too," Showalter said.

"The timing is always a challenge. In the American League game versus the National League game, a lot of moves are made for you in the National League. You know where your pitcher is hitting and what you've got to do. It's a lot more difficult this time of year in the American League, because it's just pure who you think is the right guy to get somebody out. And you can make the right decision and it not work out on the field, and you're playing guys with this ability that they have."

Showalter won't hesitate to use Britton for multiple innings - the left-hander recorded the last five outs Sunday at Yankee Stadium - and it's been suggested within the organization that he could be up in the seventh if necessary.

This is a one-game series. Lose and go home. Extremes are reasonable.

The Orioles led the majors in home runs with 253 and with the roof open, the ball could be flying into spots where the grass doesn't grow.

Can they win in the postseason with that approach? It's the yearly debate with teams so reliant on their power.

"You've got to know who you are and who you're not," Showalter said. "You can't make something happen there that's not there. We talked about a lot, when I first came here, about who are we. It wasn't, if you look back with some other things, if our skill set was a little different, we'd be doing some things differently. But we've tried some, and we came to the conclusion that some of those things were a challenge for us, where some other things weren't.

"Our guys have scored enough runs to win games and how we got to that point, I love how people try to define what small ball is. Sometimes a guy working the count and getting to 3-0 and hitting a home run at Yankee Stadium like (Matt) Wieters is small ball, to work the count like that and get a hittable pitch. But people always associate it with power.

"It's about scoring runs. If we get that and we have different people show up, we would play a different game. It's worked out OK."

Whatever happens tonight, the Orioles won't board their charter carrying any regrets about their approach and how they got here.

"There's so many different things moving and so many different ... you don't have time to dwell on all the nuances," Showalter said. "It's about a baseball game. It's nine innings or whatever amount, and our guys have worked so hard to get a chance at this, and the game's not always fair, but most times if you're true to it they let you up off the deck.

"I know our guys deserve to get something out of this season, but so does Toronto, so do the other eight teams in it. That's why it's so fascinating for people to watch, because you've got all these good things that meet, and someone's going to go away. There's only going to be one team really happy when this is all said and done. It can be emotionally really challenging. You can imagine what they're thinking, and you just try to make their path easier and try to tell them as much as you can about what's coming.

"The good thing is Toronto led the American League in attendance. It's not like this is the first night they've ever had anybody here and we played them. There's obviously a different level. It was a big advantage for us against Detroit a couple years ago. Our guys have been good about trying to overcome those things. It's not the first time we've had to win. It was a challenge every time. I think there's a real healthy respect with the two clubs about what we both had to do to get here.

"It's tough to win when you're expected to win. That's one of the most challenging things in team sports is winning when there's expectations. They call it the burden of expectations. That's why these teams that can consistently win and compete have my utmost respect, because it's so hard to keep that mentality over a long season."

Commissioner Rob Manfred addressed the media earlier today and said there wouldn't be an exhibition game played in Cuba next spring due to the World Baseball Classic.

"We have not made any firm plans for returning to Cuba," he said. "We'll have the Cuban National Team playing in the WBC. I think it's somewhat unlikely that in the same spring period when we were doing the WBC that we would go back to Cuba."

Update: Jose Bautista led off the second inning by homering on an 88 mph fastball to give Toronto a 1-0 lead. Tillman has retired nine of the first 10 batters. Marcus Stroman has retired all nine.

Update II: Mark Trumbo hit a two-run homer in the third inning in his second career postseason at-bat, and the Orioles lead 2-1. Adam Jones led off with a single and Manny Machado was robbed of extra-bases on Kevin Pillar's sensational diving catch in right-center field.

Update III: The Jays tied the game with one out in the fifth on Ezequiel Carrera's RBI single and Tillman was gone after 4 1/3 innings. He's charged with two runs and four hits, with one walk and four strikeouts. He threw 74 pitches, 44 for strikes.

Michael Bourn made a nice running catch earlier in the game, but he failed to grab Pillar's fly ball near the line that went for a double. Michael Saunders doubled with one out, but had to hold at third.