BALTIMORE — The Toronto Blue Jays clinched their first American League East championship in 22 years with a 15-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday, bringing an appropriate conclusion to their unstoppable two-month run.
Toronto entered the doubleheader needing only one victory to eliminate the New York Yankees and claim its first title since 1993. The suspense ended rather quickly, as the Blue Jays built a 4-0 lead in the fourth inning before adding four unearned runs in the fifth.
The remaining innings were a mere prelude to a celebration more than two decades in the making. Several hundred blue-clad Toronto fans were in the small crowd that gathered for the makeup of a game washed out by rain Tuesday.
Toronto’s dugout emptied at the final out, and players jumped up and down in a mass huddle between the mound and the third-base line. Because there was a second game to be played, the Blue Jays opted to put off the champagne celebration until after the nightcap. After waiting this long to toast a division title, a few hours probably wasn’t going to make much of a difference.
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@si_mlb
