Blue Jays announce Marcus Stroman as Wild Card starter

The Toronto Blue Jays have announced that Marcus Stroman will get the start on Tuesday night at the Rogers Centre when in the American League Wild Card game.

Francisco Liriano was also considered for the start after a very strong finish to the season, but the veteran left-hander could still play a major role out of the bullpen if needed. 


Stroman entered the season as the expected staff ace, a role that was again left vacant after David Price‘s brief tenure with the Blue Jays in 2015. The young right-hander struggled through the early months of the season, but has found more of a groove since the calendar turned to October.

In 11 starts since August 1st, Stroman has pitched to a 3.28 ERA while holding opposing hitters to an OPS of .658. For the season, Stroman posted a 4.37 ERA over 204.0 innings pitched.

He will be facing a Baltimore Orioles lineup loaded with power, including Manny Machado, Chris Davis, Mark Trumbo, and Pedro Alvarez. Baltimore has performed noticeably better against right-handed pitching, so it is possible that Stroman will be working on a short leash with Liriano coming on as a multi-inning reliever. As our Jim Scott wrote earlier today, Liriano matches up very well.

In Stroman’s three playoff starts last season, he threw a total of 19.1 innings with 10 strikeouts and an ERA of 4.19.

Chris Tillman will start for the Baltimore Orioles. First pitch is scheduled for 8:08 p.m. ET.