TORONTO -- In a whiplash week, the Blue Jays’ lead in the American League East has disappeared.
A dream season is suddenly in a tailspin with just four games left in September. The Blue Jays and Yankees now sit tied atop the American League East, and while the Blue Jays own the crucial tiebreaker, these are two teams headed in completely opposite directions.
The Blue Jays’ 7-1 loss Wednesday night at Rogers Centre was their sixth loss in seven games, and the frustrations finally spilled over in the seventh inning when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was ejected for arguing with the home-plate umpire. Soon after John Schneider tried to get ejected himself -- a wish that wasn’t granted. Hitting coach David Popkins was tossed and followed Vladdy down the tunnel while boos rained down.
The Yankees, on the other hand, have won seven of their last eight and completely erased a five-game deficit. They have the best offense in baseball, all of the momentum in the world and need to play one game better than the Blue Jays over the next four. Buckle up.
“We’ve got to score more on offense,” Schneider said bluntly. “If the season ended right now, we win the division. I know things look bleak and it’s been a rough week for us, but there’s going to be a game tomorrow. We’ve got to figure out ways to score. It’s been tough to come by lately, but you’ve got to turn the page to tomorrow.”
Losing the division wouldn’t be a death blow to the Blue Jays, but ever since this season caught fire, this has been about the AL East. For too long, the Blue Jays have been stuck sneaking into the postseason with a Wild Card spot while the Yankees and Red Sox have reigned over this division, but this is supposed to be their chance to shift the balance, to win the East for the first time since 2016.
“We’ve just got to win games. Win games,” Guerrero said through a club interpreter. “Obviously, we haven’t been playing like we were playing and we haven’t been hitting like we were hitting. We’ve got to get back to that and start winning games.”
The Wild Card Series is the Blue Jays’ personal house of horrors. Three times they’ve gone (2020, ‘22, ‘23), and three times they’ve gone 0-2, each more painful than the last. This organization can’t let a bye to the ALDS slip through its hands.
Every team craves a bye, but the Blue Jays need this one. Bo Bichette would have an extra few days to work back from his left knee sprain and the Blue Jays would have a chance to reset a rotation that’s suddenly thin. Besides, if this division race stretches to Sunday and Kevin Gausman needs to pitch in Game 162, he likely wouldn’t be available for the Wild Card Series at all.
Any answer needs to start with offense. Sure, Max Scherzer allowed four runs on 10 hits over five innings and his rotation spot in the postseason remains a legitimate question mark, but it wouldn’t have mattered who was on the mound again Wednesday. In six of the last seven games -- the six losses -- the Blue Jays have scored one or fewer runs.
“Baseball is a funny game,” Scherzer said. “There’s times you can be on top of the world and there’s times where you can be on the bottom of it. I get it. Tonight, how we’ve been playing, it feels like we’re on the bottom of it. Baseball can flip in a heartbeat. Things can change overnight for no apparent reason. When you look yourself in the mirror, you’ve got to know who you are.”
In New York Wednesday night, Aaron Judge stepped to the plate and launched a three-run home run -- his 50th of the season -- to break the game open when his team needed it. If the Blue Jays aren’t going to have the “all hands on deck” offense they rode through the summer, then they need a moment like this. One swing can change everything, but the Blue Jays can’t waste much more time waiting for one.
Even if it doesn’t feel like it right now, the Blue Jays’ still control their own fate. They’re still in the driver’s seat of the AL East. It’s all sitting right in front of them.
They’re not reaching out to grab it, though, and if they don’t soon, the Yankees could blow right past them an inch before the finish line.