Here's when the Blue Jays can clinch a playoff spot this week
The Toronto Blue Jays are nearly, almost, finally about to squeeze their way into a playoff spot, barring a major catastrophe.
With six games left in their regular season schedule from one of the wildest years we’ve ever seen in Toronto, the Blue Jays are all but guaranteed to find themselves playing in this year’s postseason.
Hosting the now-eliminated New York Yankees for three games at the Rogers Centre before closing out their season with three games against the Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto has a 97.5% shot at reaching the playoffs this year (as per FanGraphs) after taking two of three games this past weekend over those same Rays.
To clinch one of the American League’s three Wild Card spots, Toronto’s magic number is currently set at three, meaning any combination of their own wins and specific teams trailing them in the standings.
Sitting in the second Wild Card spot, Toronto’s currently two games ahead of the Houston Astros and two and a half games ahead of the Seattle Mariners, while they’re a half-game back of the Texas Rangers, who currently sit as the American League Central Division leaders.
Houston and Seattle are playing each other this week in a three-game set kicking off tonight, and it’s one that Toronto will be paying close attention to. Should either team sweep the series and Toronto win its first two games against the Yankees, the Jays will clinch one of the three Wild Card playoff berths come late Wednesday night.
But if that series becomes a 2-1 split for either side, Toronto’s earliest chance to clinch would come via their own sweep of the Yankees in order to clinch a playoff spot, meaning they’d have to do so on Thursday.
In any case, Jays fans will be rooting for whoever wins tonight’s Mariners-Astros contest to ultimately sweep that series and push Toronto to clinch this week.
At the very least, if Toronto completely sees the wheels fall off and gets swept by an eliminated Yankees team at home, they’d still control their own destiny with the ability to clinch a playoff spot this weekend with two or three wins against the Rays.
The Astros close out their own schedule with a three-game set in Arizona on Friday-Sunday against the Diamondbacks, while the Mariners have a four-game set kicking off this Thursday against the Rangers at home.
In any case, Toronto fansĀ should have the chance to celebrate a postseason berth by the end of the week, assuming the team is able to not see the absolute worst-case scenario come to fruition.
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