Blue Jays heading to post-season: Defining moments from the 2016 season

After Toronto endured more than two decades without October baseball, the Blue Jays have delivered on a post-season promise in back-to-back years. After an 89-73 regular season, the Jays will get at least one more when they take on the Baltimore Orioles in the American League wild-card game. Thanks to a season series win over the O's — who also finished with a 89-73 record — the Rogers Centre will play host to the do-or-die game that goes Tuesday night.

The winner is off to the American League Division Series, where the Texas Rangers — well-known foes north of the border  – await. The loser is done, their playoffs done in a flash. The baseball season is a grind, and the Blue Jays experienced their fair share of ups and downs throughout the 162-game marathon this year. Before we get to the fateful wild-card game, let's take a look back at some defining moments from the Blue Jays 2016 season:

May 15 – Texas Rangers' Rougned Odor punches Jose Bautista

Dating back to last year’s ALDS, the Rangers and Blue Jays have had a contentious history with one another. The Rangers, who would lose that series three games to two, took particular issue with Jose Bautista’s infamous bat-flip that capped off a dramatic seventh inning of Game 5, and eventually led the Jays to victory.

On May 15 this year — the last regular season meeting between the two — the Rangers made it known they didn’t appreciate Bautista’s playoff theatrics. In the eighth inning, reliever Matt Bush hit Bautista with a pitch. A few moments later, Bautista slid hard into second to break up a potential double play, which Rougned Odor didn’t take kindly to. The two quickly got into each others' faces — and Odor swiftly punched Bautista’s. The aftermath involved a bench-clearing brawl, a seven-game suspension for Odor and one for Bautista. The Internet feasts on GIF-able moments, and this one was like a Thanksgiving dinner for the meme-loving corner of the web. The photos, video and GIFs of the punch were shared all over and instantly became a contender for most memorable moment of the season, only a month and a half in.

June 18 – Michael Saunders hits three home runs, 8 RBIs

Blue Jays outfielder Michael Saunders enjoyed a productive first half, leading to the 29-year-old Canadian’s first all-star appearance of his career. Through the first half, Saunders was sporting a slash line of .298/.372/.559, which was good enough to be ranked among the top left-handed hitters in the majors. Through 81 games, he had 42 RBIs and 16 homers.

Three of those homers — not to mention eight RBIs — came against the Orioles on June 18 in a 13-3 victory. Saunders hit three-run shots in the first and fourth inning and added a two-run homer in the sixth to total eight runs batted in. He became the fourth Canadian in major-league history to have a triple home run day. And in true Canadian fashion, some travelling Blue Jays fans tossed their hats on to the field when Saunders' third homer left the park.

July 30 – Blue Jays take over first in the American League East

As the defending American League East champions, the Blue Jays came into the season as the team to beat in the division. But things didn’t go as smoothly as they hoped, as they spent the majority of the first half chasing the top of the division, behind Baltimore and Boston.

But on July 30, Blue Jays took over atop the AL East for the first time since early April after a 9-1 win against the Orioles. Cy Young contender J.A. Happ pitched a strong seven plus innings of one-run baseball. The offensive output was a full team effort, as well, as every Blue Jay but one reached base that afternoon. It would still take a few games for the Blue Jays to cement themselves into first for the majority of August. Of course, then the calendar turned and September began - let's get to that later.

Aug. 28 – Josh Donaldson hits his own hat-trick

Not to be outdone by Michael Saunders, the reigning AL MVP Josh Donaldson had his own three-peat performance in August at the Rogers Centre. In a 9-6 win against the lowly Minnesota Twins, Donaldson hit solo home runs in the third inning and eighth inning and put his team ahead in the seventh inning with a two-run shot.

Once again, in appropriate Canadian fashion, when the third homer flew over the centre-field wall, it was hats that started pouring down on the Bringer of Rain. In a strange twist, Donaldson’s hat-trick happened almost exactly a year to the day teammate Edwin Encarnacion did the same thing (Encarnacion did it against the Tigers on Aug. 29, 2015).

Sept. 7 - Blue Jays fall out of first in the East

Off the heels of a sweep by the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium, the Blue Jays fell out of the top spot in the AL East. September would prove unkind to the Jays, who went 3-9 to start the crucial month. While the starting pitching would hold strong, the offence came up short more often than not as the Blue Jays scored the fewest runs in the AL and finished September 11-16. The slide caused them to relinquish first in the AL to the red-hot Red Sox and they would never regain it.

Oct. 2 – Aaron Sanchez helps Blue Jays clinch wild-card with clutch outing

Last year’s Blue Jays stormed into the post-season with a 43-18 record to finish the season, clinching the AL title with days to spare before the post-season began. This year, it came down to game 162, and 24-year-old starter Aaron Sanchez, who saved his best for last, apparently. Sanchez, who pitched his way into the rotation with a strong spring training and was supposed to go to the bullpen later on - that was the plan, anyway -- finished the year with the lowest ERA (3.00) in the American League. And in his biggest assignment of the season, all he did was carry a no-hitter into the seventh inning and get the W in the Jays' 2-1 win that clinched Tuesday's playoff opener in Toronto.