MLB Playoff Push: Blue Jays look to bounce again in key collection vs. Rangers

As the Major League Baseball schedule rounds into its closing 10 days, the American League post-season image stays as jumbled as ever. With three post-season spots, together with two division titles, nonetheless up for grabs amongst six October hopefuls, the dash to the end line is certain to supply loads of drama.

Coming off a collection loss to the Detroit Tigers, the Blue Jays will start one other pivotal collection — this time in Arlington in opposition to the Rangers — two video games again of the Guardians for a playoff spot.

At this level, Toronto not solely must handle enterprise down within the Lone Star State to maintain tempo, however it’ll additionally want some assistance on the out-of-town scoreboard whether it is to realize any floor on whichever AL Central membership would not seize the division lead.

Texas delivered one of many defining blows of the Blue Jays’ season when the 2 sides final met again in late June — a four-game sweep that included a trio of one-run losses for Toronto at dwelling. This time round, nonetheless, the Blue Jays will hand the ball to Dylan Cease and José Soriano to start this three-game set, with a Trey Yesavage return on the desk for the collection finale as they appear to flip the script on the Rangers at Globe Life Field.

Beyond the tense matchup between the Blue Jays and Rangers, there is no such thing as a scarcity of stakes throughout baseball with the beginning of the post-season lower than two weeks away. So, let’s take inventory of the place issues stand earlier than the standings inevitably shift a time or two or three this weekend.

If the post-season began immediately

No. 1 and AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays (93-59): Bye
No. 2 and AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox (78-75)*: Bye
No. 3 and AL West-leading Houston Astros (77-76) vs. No. 6 Cleveland Guardians (78-75)
No. 4 New York Yankees (88-64) vs. No. 5 Boston Red Sox (83-70)
*White Sox and Guardians are tied at 78-75, however Chicago holds the tiebreaker.

The Guardians and White Sox have spent the week bouncing forwards and backwards between the AL Central lead and the third wild-card spot. Cleveland took the highest spot within the division with a collection victory over Chicago on Wednesday, however a White Sox win over the Tigers on Thursday flipped the golf equipment as soon as once more, due to the tiebreaker.

It muddles issues just a little for groups within the hunt. For instance, each the Blue Jays and Rangers personal their tiebreakers over Cleveland however not Chicago, that means they’ll most likely proceed to chase a shifting goal the remainder of the way in which.

The Orioles, in the meantime, remained on the outskirts of the image with a collection sweep of the New York Mets as Pete Alonso went deep twice in opposition to his former membership. Baltimore is in for the hardest check this weekend of any membership within the race, with a three-game set on faucet in opposition to the MLB-leading Milwaukee Brewers.

Three burning questions for AL playoff race this weekend

Does the Blue Jays’ rotation bump repay? With Thursday’s off-day following their collection in opposition to the Tigers, the Blue Jays had the chance to present Cease and Soriano an additional day of relaxation by holding them on flip for Games 2 and three in opposition to Texas. Instead, Toronto determined to maintain its pocket aces on regular relaxation, shifting the duo as much as Friday and Saturday to take its finest shot on the Rangers, who had a four-game successful streak snapped Thursday with a late loss to the Red Sox. The shift additionally avoids a best-on-best matchup on Sunday, when Texas ace Jacob deGrom is scheduled to take the mound. Should Yesavage return for that outing, he’s anticipated to throw round 40 to 45 pitches in an try to scale back the Blue Jays’ reliance on their closely labored bullpen. Casting ahead, the transfer additionally traces Cease as much as begin Toronto’s collection finale in opposition to the Orioles subsequent week and Soriano for the opener of the Blue Jays’ closing three-game set in opposition to the Cincinnati Reds.

Who might take the AL Central lead? As the Guardians and White Sox jockey for management of their division, Cleveland seems to have the benefit on paper this weekend. The Guardians will host the Athletics, whereas Chicago will end off a four-game collection with the Tigers as they appear to get again on monitor. Both the A’s and Tigers have emerged as pesky opponents this month, carrying above-.500 data to this point in September. But there is not any doubt that Detroit’s youth and up to date surge — it has gained seven of its final 10 — might throw a wrench into the White Sox’s designs on solely their second division title since 2008. As issues presently stand, the AL Central winner can be positioned to earn a bye by way of the primary spherical of the post-season event, one thing that would clearly show fairly useful on the facet of the bracket that probably will not function the junior circuit’s prime three groups by file.

Can Orioles hold their slim playoff hopes alive in robust collection vs. Brewers? With its FanGraphs playoff odds sitting at 4.0 per cent, Baltimore’s season is seemingly on its final legs. While the Orioles did nicely to take all three video games from the Mets at Citi Field, their October hopes may be on the road this weekend as Jacob Misiorowski and the 95-win Brewers come to city. Although “The Miz” is not scheduled to pitch till Sunday, Baltimore is presently scheduled to start out “TBD,” Trevor Rogers and Brandon Young within the collection. It may not be the perfect group to expire in opposition to the second-best run-producing lineup in baseball, but when the Orioles are to shock the world over the approaching week and a half, they will want quite a few their pitchers to seek out one other gear. At 75-78, Baltimore would want to go 8-1 over its closing 9 video games to achieve 83 wins, and with matchups in opposition to Toronto and the New York Yankees on deck following this assembly with Milwaukee, the Orioles cannot afford greater than a single slip-up in the event that they need to keep within the combine.

Here is what FanGraphs and Baseball Reference are projecting, as of Friday morning, when it comes to playoff odds amongst American League groups battling for post-season spots.

Tampa Bay’s FanGraphs odds: 100% | Tampa Bay’s Baseball Reference odds: 100%

Chicago’s FanGraphs odds: 80.5% | Chicago’s Baseball Reference odds: 88.1%

Houston’s FanGraphs odds: 81.3% | Houston’s Baseball Reference odds: 86.6%

New York’s FanGraphs odds: 100% | New York’s Baseball Reference odds: 100%

Boston’s FanGraphs odds: 100% | Boston’s Baseball Reference odds: >99.9%

Cleveland’s FanGraphs odds: 76.4% | Cleveland’s Baseball Reference odds: 70.7%

Texas’s FanGraphs odds: 32.9% | Texas’s Baseball Reference odds: 26.7%

Toronto’s FanGraphs odds: 24.6% | Toronto’s Baseball Reference odds: 22.7%

Baltimore’s FanGraphs odds: 4.0% | Baltimore’s Baseball Reference odds: 4.9%