Snapping playoff drought worthy of bubbly

The day before, they vowed the celebration would be subdued. Not that anyone believed it. And no one asked Edwin Encarnacion.

So what began as a champagne toast by the general manager and the manager turned into a fullblown bash, with deafening music, champagne and beer showers, lots of smiles and shouts, fat cigars — Munenori Kawasaki choked when he inhaled — and assorted dance moves ( Marcus Stroman was in the middle of that).

And for the Toronto Blue Jays, playoff- bound for the first time in 22 years, Saturday’s celebration was just the opening act, a bit of mild revelry to acknowledge a trifle called the wild- card. The real prize is a division championship, which they expect to wrap up in Baltimore in a few days.

“You think you’re wet now. Wait ’ til we clinch this thing,” Kevin Pillar told reporters, referring to the American League East pennant. The Jays’ magic number to reach that goal is four.

GM Alex Anthopoulos, who reformatted the roster and the culture of this team, thanked his players — “they drive the bus,” he said — and manager John Gibbons followed suit before the clubhouse doors opened to the media.

“I think we were just going to have a toast,” R. A. Dickey said, “and I think Eddie wanted to go for it, so we did.”

Eddie — Edwin Encarnacion — and Jose Bautista are long- timers, star sluggers who endured the latest of the lean years that have frustrated players and fans for a generation. So it is unsurprising that they would not preach restraint when the breakthrough finally came.

“We had a little talk before the game that we weren’t going to do a big celebration because even though getting to the playoffs means a whole lot, especially for our fan base that has been waiting for so long, we want to win the division and that’s still the goal,” said Bautista, who punctuated the 10- 8 win over the Rays with two homers.