How the Blue Jays Climbed Into the AL Wild-Card Race With a Battered Rotation
Toronto's season looked finished in late July. According to TSN, the Blue Jays were 10 games under .500 on July 28, and the defending American League champions were running out of time. By early September, after two wins over Kansas City, TSN said Toronto was tied with the Guardians for the AL's third and final wild-card berth.
Two Wins, Two Ways
The two results against the Royals showed different ways this team can win. In the 4-3 victory, Okamoto led the offense. In the 9-2 rout, Kirk, Clement and Springer each drove in two runs, according to CP24. One game was a knife fight; the other was a blowout. Both counted the same in a race this tight.
The turnaround did not come with a healthy pitching staff. CP24 reported that Jameson Taillon was making his first appearance since Aug. 10, when he went on the injured list with right forearm tendinitis. The 34-year-old right-hander allowed one run on two hits in two innings before leaving with right elbow discomfort. That is an unsettling sign for a rotation already stretched thin.
A Rotation at the Worst Time
Taillon's exit matters because September is when pitching depth decides wild-card races. A team can survive a bad start and a long climb, but it cannot survive a staff that keeps losing pieces. The Blue Jays have absorbed one injury and now face the possibility of another. The timing could hardly be worse.
So far, the offense has carried the load. The win in the tight game and the win in the lopsided game both came at the plate. That is a useful formula in the short term, but the rotation will eventually have to hold. The tie with Cleveland is not a title. It is a position, and one that can disappear in a night.
The stakes are clear. The third wild-card spot puts Toronto back in the postseason conversation after a stretch when almost no one expected it to be there. What the Blue Jays have shown is that they can overcome a terrible start and a beat-up staff to give themselves a chance. The next few weeks will decide whether that chance becomes something more.