The Toronto Blue Jays are the robust favorite to win the American League East Division title for the primary time in a decade.
Canada’s lone Major League Baseball group beat the Tampa Bay Rays 6-5 on Tuesday to enhance their report to 89-62. The Blue Jays are 5 video games forward of the New York Yankees with 12 video games to play.
Here’s a have a look at 5 storylines because the stretch drive continues:
NUMBERS GAME
The Blue Jays have an opportunity to safe the East title properly earlier than their regular-season finale on Sept. 28 towards the visiting Rays.
Clinching early would let supervisor John Schneider give his regulars some relaxation and permit him to set a super beginning rotation for the opening playoff spherical.
Toronto can be aiming to carry on to the highest seed within the American League and safe home-field benefit by way of no less than the best-of-seven championship sequence.
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A top-two end within the AL would give the Blue Jays a bye to the best-of-five division sequence.
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MAGIC NUMBERS
After Tuesday’s video games, the Blue Jays’ magic quantity to clinch the East Division crown is six.
Any mixture of Toronto victories and losses by New York totalling that quantity would give the Blue Jays the title.
Toronto’s magic quantity to safe a playoff spot heading into Tuesday’s motion was 4.
The Blue Jays had a 97.4-per cent likelihood of successful the division and an 11.2-per cent likelihood of successful the World Series, per FanGraphs odds on Tuesday afternoon.
DOWN THE STRETCH
Once the sequence with Tampa Bay wraps on Thursday afternoon, the Blue Jays will shut out their highway schedule with a three-game weekend sequence towards Kansas City.
The Rays and Royals have fallen properly again within the AL wild-card race, though neither group has been mathematically eradicated from post-season competition.
After an off-day Monday, Toronto will kick off its remaining homestand Sept. 23 towards Boston. The Red Sox are a superb guess to earn one of many three AL wild-card berths.
Toronto and Tampa Bay will shut out the marketing campaign with a three-game set from Sept. 26-28.
TOUGH CALLS
The Blue Jays may have some powerful choices forward as they give the impression of being to place the absolute best lineup on the sphere in October.
Slugger Anthony Santander has been taking part in with the triple-A Buffalo Bisons as he builds up forward of a possible return to the big-league lineup after lacking greater than three months with a shoulder damage.
Santander was signed to a profitable five-year deal final winter after a 44-homer season with the Baltimore Orioles.
On the mound, Toronto additionally has to determine how prime prospect Trey Yesavage may match into their plans. The 22-year-old right-hander was dominant at instances in his big-league debut Monday, hanging out 9 batters over five-plus innings.
PLAYOFF HISTORY
The Blue Jays have reached the playoffs thrice over the past 5 years however had been swept within the wild-card spherical on every event.
Toronto’s final post-season victory got here in 2016 when the group reached the AL Championship Series for the second straight yr.
The Blue Jays haven’t been to the World Series since 1993, a yr after they received the Fall Classic for the primary time.
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Sept. 16, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
