NEW YORK -- It’s aces wild for the wild-card Baltimore Orioles.

Now that they’ve clinched, the billion dollar question (adjusted for inflation) is: Which one of the Orioles' aces will they turn to for Tuesday’s one-game, loser-go-home AL wild-card game?

The truth is the Orioles don’t have a legit ace and haven’t really had one since 2000, when Mike Mussina skipped town. Sure, Chris Tillman is the team’s nominal No. 1, and for the first couple months of this season, he pitched like it, slinging the entire O’s rotation over his shoulder and carrying them sack o’ potatoes style. But more than anything, what Tillman was this season was the leadoff leg of a four-man relay ace, er, race.

From April through the middle of June, Tillman was money enough to be a Cy Young frontrunner. He went 9-1 with a 2.87 ERA and 1.16 WHIP. But since June 19, the 28-year-old righty hasn’t been the same, working to a 7-5 record with a 4.64 ERA and 1.41 WHIP and going on the DL in August because of shoulder inflammation that would seemingly explain the drop off.

Not to worry, though. Rookie Dylan Bundy stepped into the rotation and improbably took the baton from Tillman, becoming the team’s ace for the first month after the All-Star break. Right around the time Bundy started to hit the wall (he’s well past the 70-inning limit the O’s had planned for him this season), Kevin Gausman busted through and grabbed the stick from his fellow first-round pick. Gausman ran a lights-out third leg, allowing no earned runs four times in a five-start stretch from mid-August to mid-September before handing off to the anchor man.

Who is that anchor man, you ask? None other than Ubaldo Jimenez.

Ubaldo Jimenez has been Baltimore's hottest pitcher and the Orioles may have to turn to him for Tuesday’s one-game, AL wild-card game. Mark Blinch/The Canadian Press via AP

Really. The undisputed worst starter in baseball during the first half of the season (7.38 ERA), Jimenez was banished to the bullpen by the All-Star break. He was routinely booed by the normally kind-hearted and forgiving fans at Camden Yards. For months, talk radio airwaves were filled with callers demanding that the 32-year-old right-hander -- who is in the third year of a four-year, $50 million contract -- be released. Instead, the Orioles held on to him, and it’s a good thing they did.

When Tillman hit the DL in late August, leaving an already thin rotation downright emaciated, manager Buck Showalter picked up the bat-phone and dialed 1-800-JIM-ENEZ. The veteran hurler answered the call and then some. Since he rejoined the rotation on Aug. 25, Jimenez has made seven starts, working to a 2.45 ERA that’s the third-lowest in the American League over that span. His 0.86 WHIP in the stretch is the best in the AL and ranks second in the majors, behind only that of Chicago’s Jon Lester.

Post-reboot, Jimenez is averaging 6.2 innings per start (fourth in the AL), and on Sept. 5, he tossed Baltimore’s first complete game in two years. As a result, he has helped turn an overworked Birds bullpen from fried to fresh. That's a big reason O’s relievers led all of baseball with a 1.37 ERA in September.

Now that the calendar has turned to October and the O’s have punched their playoff ticket, is Jimenez’s anchor leg over? Six weeks ago, the notion of him starting a wild-card game -- or any playoff game, really -- was preposterous. The idea of him being on the playoff roster was absurd. But given how dominant he has been lately and given the alternatives, how does Showalter not tap Jimenez to toe the rubber on Tuesday?

Had the Orioles clinched Saturday and made Sunday’s game meaningless, Gausman would have been a possibility to work the wild-card game. Instead, he started the season finale. Even if Guasman hadn’t started Sunday, it’s hard to argue that he has been better than Jimenez lately. In two starts prior to game 162, Gausman got knocked around to the tune of 10 runs on 17 hits (including four bombs) in 12.1 innings. But he isn't an option, anyway.

Tillman is an option, given that he A) most recently pitched Wednesday and B) has the whole titular ace thing going on. But as noted above, he hasn’t been all that effective the past three-and-a-half months. The hope was that his DL stint would make him whole again, but his results since returning suggest that maybe his shoulder is still barking.

On Sept. 22 against Boston, Tillman allowed eight baserunners in 1 ⅔ innings before getting yanked from his shortest outing of the season. After the game, he was asked point-blank if his shoulder was OK, and he said it was. But in his most recent start against Toronto, his average fastball velocity was 90.1 mph, his lowest since the 2014 season. What’s more, he threw the heater only 41 percent of the time, the lowest usage of his career by more than 5 percent.

On the plus side, Tillman gave up just one earned run in 5 ⅔ innings to the Jays, but considering that he allowed nine baserunners and his off-speed stuff didn’t look that sharp, the start had a decidedly smoke-and-mirrors feel to it. Although Tillman deserves credit for a gutty big-game performance that gave his team a chance to win -- not to mention his steadying presence in the rotation, especially early on -- smoke and mirrors aren't exactly what you want in a one-game, winner-take-all scenario.

What you want is your best pitcher on the mound. For the past six weeks, believe it or not, Baltimore’s hottest hurler has been Ubaldo Jimenez. If that weren’t enough, Jimenez last worked Thursday, when he allowed one hit in six-plus scoreless innings against the Blue Jays. That's the same Blue Jays who will face the Orioles in the wild-card game. Speaking of the wild-card game, it just so happens to be scheduled for the day Baltimore’s unsung anchor would naturally make his next start.

Add it all up, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Showalter put the Orioles’ fate in Jimenez’s hands. That would mean he’ll have to put the baton in his back pocket.