By Canadian Press

Toronto Blue Jays playoff hopes all come down to six-game homestand

Sep 25, 2023 | 2:19 PM

TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays’ post-season fate will be determined this week.

Toronto will host the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays in a six-game homestand starting Tuesday.

The Blue Jays hold the second of three American League wild-card berths.

How Toronto fares against the Yankees and Rays will help determine if the Blue Jays finish second or third in the wild-card race.

Three AL West teams will also have some control on the wild-card picture, with the Texas Rangers, Houston Astros, and Seattle Mariners also in the post-season hunt.

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: North Shore BIA working hard to develop a 'happening place'

1h ago

1000 Ways to Heal

1000 Ways to Heal: Moons

Dec 10, 2024

Question of the Week

Should Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson apologize or resign after it was found he breached a section of council's code of conduct for allowing false or misleading information to be communicated?

Dec 09, 2024

Texas entered play on Monday atop the west division, with Houston holding the third wild-card spot and the Mariners a half a game back of the Astros.

Seattle hosted Houston in the first game of a three-game series on Monday night. The outcome of that series, coupled with a series of Blue Jays losses at Rogers Centre, could knock Toronto down to the third wild-card spot.

Significantly, the Blue Jays’ lacklustre 19-27 intradivision record means that if it ends the regular season with an identical record to the Mariners (29-16 against AL West opponents), Toronto would be out.

It’s very unlikely that the Blue Jays will fall all the way out of a playoff spot, however.

FanGraphs.com, a baseball analysis website, has Toronto’s odds of clinching a wild-card spot at 97.7 per cent on Monday. Baseball Reference.com had the Blue Jays’ chances of seeing the post-season at 97.9 per cent.

Ace Kevin Gausman (12-9) will get the start when Toronto hosts the Yankees on Tuesday night. New York will send Michael King (4-7) to the mound.

The Yankees (79-77) are six 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, but could switch places with the East-leading Baltimore Orioles this week.

The Rangers opened a three-game series against the Angels in Los Angeles on Monday. The Rays start a two-game set in Boston on Tuesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2023.

The Canadian Press