TORONTO -- When asked what it would take for the Blue Jays to have a successful September, interim manager John Schneider was categorical:

“Good starting pitching, consistent offensive approach, clean defense, stay healthy,” Schneider said on Wednesday at Rogers Centre. “Maybe not in that order, per se, but I think those things are paramount if we want to keep playing late in the season.”

Every game from now until early October will put those elements to the test, as the Blue Jays find themselves in the thick of the AL Wild Card race, two games ahead of the Orioles for the final playoff spot.

With roughly a month left in the regular season, the team is still searching for a moment in which everything clicks. It didn’t come on Wednesday, when Toronto fell short of a third straight comeback, dropping the series finale to the Cubs, 7-5, to close out a chaotic month of August.

So, where do the Blue Jays stand regarding the items brought up by their skipper ahead of a three-city, 10-game road trip to start September?

1. Good starting pitching
While there are real question marks around the No. 5 spot, the Blue Jays may have one of the best rotations in the game. Toronto has produced 56 quality starts this season, well above the league average of 47, and sports a respectable starters’ 3.57 ERA over the past 15 games ahead of Wednesday.

Mitch White’s outing, however, showed that there’s still work to be done. White produced plenty of swings and misses in the loss, but he was hit hard and often, surrendering six earned runs over 4 2/3 innings.

“The stuff is there, for sure,” said Schneider. “Maybe his pitch mix got a little predictable. … It’s encouraging that there’s swing-and-miss stuff, so then it’s just kind of buckling down on the execution part.”

The postseason may require a four- or three-man rotation, with Ross Stripling and José Berríos closing out the list.

“I think our starters have been really, really good over the past two weeks or so,” said Schneider. “If you have to piece together a game, you piece together a game. [But] the goal is to have a quality start every time and keep the bullpen in order, where they should be pitching.”

2. Consistent offensive approach
The amount of talent in the Blue Jays’ lineup adds a puzzling layer to their current offensive scarcity.

Take Wednesday, for example, a bullpen game for the bottom-tier Cubs in which Toronto didn’t manage a hit until the third inning. Cavan Biggio and Alejandro Kirk broke their home run droughts in later frames, but the deficit was too large by that point.

The Blue Jays aren’t striking out much, and when they do find their swing, the game can change within seconds. But getting there has been a slow process.

3. Clean defense
It certainly looks like Toronto is pulling this one off. After a sloppy series against the Angels last weekend, Blue Jays fielders tightened up their act, coming up with potentially game-changing defensive plays throughout the series against the Cubs.

At the center of it all were Teoscar Hernández and Bo Bichette, two players who have seen some bad bounces in the field this season.

4. Stay healthy
“It’s September,” Schneider said ahead of the finale on Wednesday. “If you’re tired, too bad. Everyone’s tired.”

Thursday’s off-day may help the Blue Jays on that front, as the team prepares for its trip to Pittsburgh for a three-game series against the Pirates.

“Off-days are always great when you’re playing as many games in the amount of days that we do,” said Schneider. “We have some doubleheaders coming up, so hopefully we can take advantage of the off-day, hit the road tomorrow and just understand that it’s going to be a grind. Three cities [and] a really important stretch for us.”

The return of George Springer and Hernández has added depth and power to this team, not only offensively but also in the outfield. It’s likely Springer will see plenty of time at DH due to a lingering elbow issue, but he played center field in two of three contests against the Cubs.

Hernández, who fouled a ball off his left foot twice in the same week during the last road trip, is still playing through pain, but he realizes the importance of the moment.

Everyone in that clubhouse does.

“There is something to be said about the calendar actually turning to September,” said Schneider. “Going forward, everyone understands the magnitude of the game. … These guys know what’s at stake and they know what they need to do.”