By admin 
After losing a key series to the hapless Athletics, the Toronto Blue Jays dropped to 1 GB of the Cleveland Guardians for the third and final American League Wild Card spot.
Read more Islam Makhachev names two challengers as biggest threats to his UFC title reign
The Blue Jays really needed to win the series against the Athletics, who have the second-worst record in the AL. A sweep would have been even better.
Instead, the Blue Jays lost the series, and it could end up costing them the playoffs, as there isn’t much time left in the season to make up ground.
Math Isn’t In Blue Jays’ Favor
The match isn’t in the Blue Jays’ favor right now, as the team only has 15 games left in the season, so there isn’t much time to make up ground on the Cleveland Guardians, who are ahead of Toronto by one game in the Wild Card hunt.
Related: Blue Jays Fighting Hard for Playoff Spot, Still Need Help
Not only do the Blue Jays need to catch Cleveland, but they also need to get ahead of the Texas Rangers, who have the same record as Toronto right now.
While Toronto has the tiebreaker over Cleveland, they do not have the tiebreaker over Texas, so if the two teams end up tied in the standings at the end of the season for the final playoff spot, Texas would sneak into the playoffs, leaving Toronto out in the cold.
The Blue Jays do have three more games left against Texas this season, so that could help them in the standings overall, but they cannot win the tiebreaker, since the Rangers swept them in a four-game series earlier this year.
Aside from Texas, Toronto also has six more games left against the Baltimore Orioles, who are also in the AL Wild Card hunt, plus three games each against the Detroit Tigers and Cincinnati Reds — two teams that the Blue Jays should beat on paper, but we all know that baseball isn’t played on paper; it’s played on the field.
That’s why every single game is so crucial right now, and why losing to a bad team like the Athletics really hurts.
Read more Godolphin Named TOBA’s 2025 National Owner, Breeder Of The Year
More Blue Jays:
- Toronto Radio Host Rips Blue Jays: He’s Not Wrong
- Blue Jays Must Use Brains, Not Hearts, at Trade Deadline
- Blue Jays Jesus Sanchez Experiment Needs To End
Blue Jays Need More From Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Stop us if you’ve heard this before, but if the Blue Jays are going to make a late run in the season’s final 15 games, then they need a better effort from Vladimir Guerrero Jr., their highly paid first baseman who has been atrocious with the bat this season.
When the Blue Jays needed Guerrero to come through for them against the Athletics, he failed to do so, as he wasn’t able to muster up a big hit when Toronto needed one.
For someone who bats second or third every single game, his lack of production has been hurting the team.
But his ego has hurt it even more, as Blue Jays manager John Schneider said he wouldn’t move Guerrero down in the team’s batting order to avoid making him upset.
That’s not how things should work in the MLB.
If you don’t hit, then you should move down. It shouldn’t matter how much money you made.
But Guerrero’s ego can’t handle batting lower in the order, and it might cost the Blue Jays a playoff spot.
With 15 games remaining on the schedule, there is still time left for the Blue Jays to make a late, strong run and prove that they are worthy of sneaking into the postseason as the third and final AL Wild Card team.
But that has to come now, because there isn’t enough time to keep saying that it’s early this season anymore.
Read more Yankees Announce Starting Pitchers for Mets Series (Potentially a Trap Series)
Related: Toronto Blue Jays Surprise Everyone Because of Bateman, Kirk
Copyright 2026 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This story was originally published September 11, 2026 at 6:33 AM.