Well September has been a much kinder month for the Toronto Blue Jays than August was, although they really need to learn how to beat Tampa Bay more often in important games. The Jays are 8-4 so far this month as of Monday and are 4 games behind the Kansas City Royals for the second Wild Card spot. It’s exciting there is important baseball being played by Toronto this month, the problem is there are running out of time to catch up.
Time Is Running out for the Blue Jays Playoff Hopes
There are officially 14 games left on the schedule and if the Jays win more against Baltimore and New York more than they lose, then the four game series against Seattle will be very important. This we know, but is it already too late to gain ground for the final spot?
The Blue Jays have been sitting four or so games back for a few weeks now, and have had trouble gaining much ground even when they win a few in a row. It seems to be one step forward and one step back for this team such as losing two very winnable games against the Red Sox earlier this month. They also really needed to sweep this weekend’s series against the Tampa Rays. The Jays can not count on the teams in front of them to collapse and so they must continue to keep winning to really get back in the race. That is the nature of the position the Blue Jays put themselves in with a tough August as they must pass both Seattle and Kansas City (currently) to get that final playoff spot.
I’m all for the Wild Card and an expanded playoff format for MLB, providing they shorten the regular season, but I’m noticing more and more that the wild card creates a mirage of hope for many teams. As I said before the Jays for a while have been four games back and were also at times five or more games behind, but they haven’t gotten any closer since then. Which has me asking, is the Wild Card creating false hope for many teams in Major League baseball, or do these teams after Kansas City and Seattle have an actual chance of catching up?
I mean the Indians and the Yankees are still technically in a playoff hunt, they are both 5 games back of Kansas City and one game behind the Jays, which means the Yankees series, is also very important for Toronto and New York. This is what Major League Baseball wants, more teams in contention in August and September and less teams eliminated by the All-Star break. More fans will go to the games and more money will be made it’s a perfect plan. I expect a decent size crowd for the Jays-Mariners four game set next week, if of course Toronto is in striking distance of possibly taking the Wild Card spot.
Luckily in baseball anything can happen and in 2 weeks’ time the playoff landscape could be very different, the Jays just need to do their job and win and hope that everything else will fall in place. Maybe just maybe it won’t be a mirage and these “meaningful” games will actually mean something to the fans of the Toronto Blue Jays.
It is funny about two weeks ago I was writing off the Blue Jays and after those two games against the Red Sox where they should have won, I thought that was the final dagger, but the Jays keep hanging on. The question is can the Jays win these games under the pressure of the season almost ending? The answer will be given with these final two weeks and then we’ll truly see the real Blue Jays.
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Main Photo by David Cooper/Toronto Star via Getty Images
