TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays’ post-season destiny shall be decided this week.
Toronto will host the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays in a six-game homestand beginning Tuesday.
The Blue Jays maintain the second of three American League wild-card berths.
How Toronto fares in opposition to the Yankees and Rays will assist decide if the Blue Jays end second or third within the wild-card race.
Three AL West groups may even have some management on the wild-card image, with the Texas Rangers, Houston Astros, and Seattle Mariners additionally within the post-season hunt.
Texas entered play on Monday atop the west division, with Houston holding the third wild-card spot and the Mariners a half a recreation again of the Astros.
Seattle hosted Houston within the first recreation of a three-game collection on Monday night time. The end result of that collection, coupled with a collection of Blue Jays losses at Rogers Centre, might knock Toronto all the way down to the third wild-card spot.
Considerably, the Blue Jays’ lacklustre 19-27 intradivision report implies that if it ends the common season with an equivalent report to the Mariners (29-16 in opposition to AL West opponents), Toronto can be out.
It’s impossible that the Blue Jays will fall all the way in which out of a playoff spot, nevertheless.
FanGraphs.com, a baseball evaluation web site, has Toronto’s odds of clinching a wild-card spot at 97.7 per cent on Monday. Baseball Reference.com had the Blue Jays’ probabilities of seeing the post-season at 97.9 per cent.
Ace Kevin Gausman (12-9) will get the beginning when Toronto hosts the Yankees on Tuesday night time. New York will ship Michael King (4-7) to the mound.
The Yankees (79-77) are six video games out of the AL’s third wild-card spot.
Tampa Bay has already clinched a post-season berth and holds the AL’s first wild-card spot, however might change locations with the East-leading Baltimore Orioles this week.
The Rangers opened a three-game collection in opposition to the Angels in Los Angeles on Monday. The Rays begin a two-game set in Boston on Tuesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Sept. 25, 2023.
