Toronto Blue Jays Clinch First Playoff Spot Since 2016

The Toronto Blue Jays are back in the postseason.

The Blue Jays secured the second wild-card spot in the American League on Thursday night after beating the Yankees, 4-1. Left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu delivered seven scoreless innings, allowing just five hits while striking out four.

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The Blue Jays are 30-27 on the season with three games remaining, and they trail the Yankees by two games for second place in the AL East. If they don't catch New York, they would join one of the three playoff-bound AL Central clubs as the league's two wild-card teams in this year's expanded playoff format.

Toronto's last two playoff appearances came in 2015 and 2016 during back-to-back runs to the championship series. The Blue Jays lost to Cleveland in five games in 2016, while the Royals won the 2015 ALCS in six games. Prior to 2015, the franchise hadn't made the postseason since winning its second consecutive World Series championship in 1993.

During the 2020 season, Toronto has been led by youngsters Teoscar Hernández, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Cavan Biggio and Bo Bichette. Hernández has enjoyed a breakout campaign, leading the team with 16 home runs while batting .297. On the pitching side, Ryu has made good on the four-year, $80 million deal he signed with the team this past offseason, while Taijuan Walker has a 1.54 ERA in five starts since coming over in a midseason trade from the Mariners.

Seven of the eight playoff spots in the AL have been claimed, with only the second-place team in the West still up for grabs.