The Toronto Blue Jays season is all but lost. I hate to remind you Jays fans, but Toronto’s in the basement of the American League East, and the Jays are currently sitting eight games back of the second AL Wild Card spot with 19 games to play. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be exciting Blue Jays baseball still to be played. The Jays have the opportunity to play spoiler over the next few weeks as they wrap up their season and look ahead to next year. Starting with Monday’s series opener against the Baltimore Orioles at the Rogers Centre, the Jays could start to derail some of the playoff hopes of their rivals and provide some exciting baseball for their loyal fan base.
Blue Jays Look to Play Spoiler as Season Winds Down
Division Rivals
Twelve of the Jays last 19 games are against AL East division rivals. The Jays begin a three-game series against the Orioles on Monday in what will turn out to be an extremely important series for an Orioles team that is somehow only three games out of a Wild Card spot despite the fact that they are a game below .500. The Jays sunk a dagger in the hearts of Orioles fans last October when Edwin Encarnacion’s 11th inning walk-off home run ended the Orioles season in the Wild Card game. A series victory would be salt in the wound for the Orioles.
With only 16 games left after this series, Baltimore can’t afford to be more than a few games out of the last Wild Card spot. The Jays will also affect the outcome of the Boston Red Sox/New York Yankees battle for AL East supremacy. Boston currently has a 3.5 game cushion over the Bronx Bombers, but their lead isn’t safe. After the Jays wrap up their series against the Royals on the 21st, they close out the season with three games against the Red Sox. Then they have six against the Yankees, who are sitting comfortably in the first Wild Card spot.
AL Central Beware
In the last few weeks of the season, the Jays will also come face to face with the Kansas City Royals and the Minnesota Twins, with both series’ coming in the next week and a half. Although the Cleveland Indians and their 18-game winning streak have all but clinched the American League Central, the Royals and Twins are still in a dogfight with a few other teams for the last Wild Card spot. The Twins hold the position with a one-game cushion above the Los Angeles Angels, while the Royals trail 2.5 games behind. Both teams will be hungry to make the postseason, as the Twins haven’t made it past the regular season since 2010 and the Royals are hoping for one last shot at glory before Lorenzo Cain, Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas become free agents after this season.
It’s no secret that the Blue Jays’ 2017 season was a huge disappointment for the organization and their fan base. After making it to the American League Championship Series two years in a row, the Jays are now on track to spend the entire 2017 season below .500. Jays fans will have to watch the 2017 postseason from afar, but until then, there is still exciting baseball to be played from the boys in blue.
