Blue Jays Attempt to Close in on AL East Magic Number Hits Roadblock
In this story:
The Toronto Blue Jays dropped a 2-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday as their two-game winning streak in Tampa came to an end.
The Blue Jays (89-63) scored just one run, with an Alejandro Kirk sacrifice fly scoring Davis Schneider which, at the time, tied the game at one. Kevin Gausman was effective, giving up six hits and one run in six innings. It was the bullpen that surrendered the game, as Yariel Rodriguez allowed a run in his only inning of relief, which allowed Tampa Bay to take the lead.
The Blue Jays have one more game in Tampa on Thursday before continuing their road trip at Kansas City. Toronto hopes to cut its magic number in the finale.
Toronto Blue Jays Magic Number
The Blue Jays had spent the past couple of games whittling away at its magic number to win the AL East. It’s a combination of Blue Jays wins and New York Yankees losses. Entering Wednesday’s action, Toronto was sitting on a magic number of seven, with a magic number of six if one accounts for the Blue Jays’ tiebreaker over the Yankees. Toronto hopes it won’t need the tiebreaker.
Well, the Blue Jays were unable to chip away at the magic number on their own, so they were hoping for a little help from the Minnesota Twins, who were playing the Yankees. The Twins were unable to oblige. The Yankees won, 10-5, keeping Toronto’s magic number in statis and cutting the division lead to four games.
Toronto did maintain its 4.5 game lead over the Detroit Tigers in the race for the No. 1 seed in the American League playoffs. The Tigers lost to the Cleveland Guardians. That No. 1 seed comes with home-field advantage in the AL playoffs and a bye through to the divisional round.
The Blue Jays are seeking to win their first division title since 2015, when they won 93 games and reached the American League Championship Series. Since that division title they've been to the postseason four other times, but always as a wild card team. The Blue Jays reached the ALCS again in 2016 but fell to Cleveland.
Toronto has a team good enough to duplicate what their 1992 and 1993 teams did, which was win the World Series. That 1993 season was the last time the Blue Jays played in the Fall Classic.
Toronto Blue Jays Magic Number Watch
Magic Number to Clinch AL East: 7 (six with tiebreaker)
Toronto Blue Jays Games Remaining: 10
Toronto Blue Jays Remaining Schedule: Sept. 18, at Tampa Bay; Sept. 19-21, at Kansas City; Sept. 23-25 vs. Boston; Sept. 26-28, vs. Tampa Bay.
AL East Division Race (after Sept. 17)
Toronto Blue Jays: 89-63 (lead division)
New York Yankees: 85-67 (4.0 games behind)
Boston Red Sox: 83-69 (6.0 games behind)
New York Yankees Remaining Schedule (10 games): Sept. 18-21, at Baltimore; Sept. 23-25 vs. Chicago White Sox; Sept. 26-28, vs. Baltimore.
Boston Red Sox Remaining Schedule (10 games): Sept. 18, vs. Athletics; Sept. 19-21, at Tampa Bay; Sept. 23-25 at Toronto; Sept. 26-28, vs. Detroit.
Recommended Articles
Matthew Postins is an award-winning sports journalist who covers Major League Baseball for OnSI. He also covers the Big 12 Conference for Heartland College Sports.
Follow postinspostcard