TORONTO -- I’d offer you the choice between hearing the good news or bad news first, but only one is in stock.

The Blue Jays unraveled late Sunday, losing 10-7 in the 11th inning and dropping a series to a Guardians team they should be beating any day of the season, but especially in the middle of a postseason race.

The loss comes with terrible timing as the Astros blew the doors off the Tigers on Sunday, putting Houston 2 1/2 games ahead of the Blue Jays for the final Wild Card spot in the American League. The Blue Jays hold the tiebreaker over the Astros if it comes to that point, but that 2 1/2 number has been moving in the wrong direction.

“This is a tough loss. This is a [crappy] loss,” manager John Schneider said. “It comes down to little things. As tough as it is, you have to regroup and move on. Every game is important. It sucks that we came up short today. Guys are in it. Guys are grinding. You have to keep doing that.”

That’s just the headline news, though.

Moments after rookie sensation Davis Schneider launched his fifth home run in 11 career games to give the Blue Jays a lead in the sixth, star shortstop Bo Bichette left the game with “right quad tightness.” Bichette has been playing through this issue, John Schneider said, and while the wording is different from the “right patellar tendinitis” that cost Bichette nearly three weeks earlier this month, an injury in the same area doesn’t inspire optimism.

Then, another blow. Matt Chapman left the game soon after Bichette, dealing with the same “right middle finger inflammation” that cost him some time two weeks ago when he jammed that finger in a weight rack at Rogers Centre. Chapman will undergo an MRI on Sunday night.

This loss was a gut punch, as tough as any the Blue Jays have suffered in 2023. They had countless opportunities to win, most notably in the ninth with the game tied and captain clutch, Danny Jansen, standing on second base with a leadoff double. Instead, Cavan Biggio bunted up the first-base line -- not the third-base line like Schneider would have preferred -- and Jansen was thrown out at third.

This is becoming a question of broad baseball philosophy, though, not individual plays.

The Blue Jays have run headfirst into the same problems all season. Schneider sees this, and his tone has changed notably over the past week. It’s a question of what a manager can do to change their club’s trajectory, and while smaller in-game decisions were clearer to see Sunday, it’s not always that simple.

“I wish there was a magic line,” Schneider said earlier in the series, “like, ‘Hey, this 2-0 fastball you’re going to get, I want you to hit it into the bullpen. Hey, this runner at second base, I want you to score them with an RBI double.’ They’ve got to go do it. I think our job is to give them all of the information, provide an approach and provide a plan, but it comes down to them being prepared to go do it, whether it’s in the box, on the mound or in the field.”

The job of a manager has changed, too. There are more ways to motivate a player than yelling. Schneider joked Friday that he’s a different version now than what he once was when it comes to “language, animation and throwing objects.”

Schneider, at his foundation, believes in standing behind his players and “putting them in the best position to succeed.” It’s a phrase you hear a lot around these Blue Jays. The problem, of course, is execution.

Ask Terry Francona the key to being a good manager, and the legendary Guardians manager is straight to the point while also highlighting how tricky the balance can be.

“Win,” Francona said Friday. “I think what’s really cool is it could be 30 different keys for 30 different managers. I think the biggest one is you’ve got to be true to yourself, instead of trying to be something you’re not. And sometimes when you are yourself it doesn’t work. But I know one way to make it not work is trying to be somebody else.”

The next five weeks are Schneider’s toughest task yet, but regardless of whether a coaching staff hands its players the best game plan in baseball history or the worst, a roster like Toronto’s with everything to play for needs to beat a roster like Cleveland’s.