Blue Jays Clinch Playoff Berth: Highlights, Twitter Reaction to Celebration

The Toronto Blue Jays went 21 consecutive years without making the playoffs after winning the 1993 World Series. On Sunday, they clinched their second straight postseason spot.

The Detroit Tigers lost to the Atlanta Braves, 1-0, which locked up Toronto's wild-card berth.

The team's Twitter account celebrated the news:

Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet shared the celebratory team on the field:

Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet and Zwelling passed along some of the players enjoying the moment:

With their 2-1 win over the Boston Red Sox, they will host the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday in the American League's Wild Card Game matchup. 

The Blue Jays won the American League East last year but lost in the American League Championship Series to the World Series champion Kansas City Royals. Toronto led the major leagues in total runs in 2015 by an incredible margin of 127.

Things were different as Toronto clinched a wild-card berth this year after a heated battle with the likes of the Tigers, Orioles, Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros.

The Blue Jays weren’t just offensive mashers in 2016. While they rank eighth in the big leagues in total runs (757), pitching helped carry them to the postseason. In fact, the starting rotation, which ranks fourth in the majors in ERA (3.66), has been effective despite losing last year’s second-half ace, David Price, to the Boston Red Sox during the offseason.

Marcus Stroman, J.A. Happ, Aaron Sanchez, Marco Estrada and R.A. Dickey have all proved to be durable workhorses with at least 28 starts, and Toronto acquired southpaw Francisco Liriano from the Pittsburgh Pirates during the season to bolster the group.

Any pitching staff benefits from a loaded lineup, and that's what Toronto brings to the table as it approaches the postseason.

Six players in the order have 20 or more home runs in 2016, and an offense that features Edwin Encarnacion, Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista, Troy Tulowitzki, Michael Saunders and Russell Martin will be a difficult out in any playoff series.

Donaldson, the 2015 American League MVP, hasn’t even been the lineup's most feared slugger. That title goes to Encarnacion, who has drilled 42 home runs and tallied 127 RBI as one of the best run producers in the league. Donaldson isn’t far behind, though, with 37 long balls and 99 RBI.

The Blue Jays have the pieces to make a deep postseason run for the second year in a row. However, this time they will have to play in the pressure-packed, do-or-die American League Wild Card Game, and they will not have the luxury of being able to come back after falling behind 2-0, as they did in last year’s American League Division Series against the Texas Rangers.

The sluggers and formidable pitching must deliver right away if Toronto is going to challenge for its first World Series title since 1993.