Blue Jays: What the Wild Card picture really looks like

With the Blue Jays just 5.5 games back in the Wild Card standings, it’s tempting to think that they still have a chance to make a run at the playoffs this season. While it is statistically possible, there are a lot of hurdles, including as many as seven teams to leapfrog in order to qualify.

It’s a tall order, but it is statistically possible the Blue Jays to make a run at the playoffs. I’ll admit, it feels unlikely, and even the philosophy of the front office would indicate they believe the same, albeit with optimism about next year. Forgive me if the image of Jim Carrey from “Dumb and Dumber” comes to mind when we’re talking about this, but there is a lot of baseball left to be played.

The biggest problem for the Jays isn’t the 5.5 games that they need to make up in the Wild Card race, but rather how many teams they need to surpass in order to get there. As things stand as of this writing, the Blue Jays have six teams between them and the Kansas City Royals, who currently occupy the second Wild Card position.

The other teams include division rivals, Tampa Bay and Baltimore, as well as the Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Angels, Minnesota Twins, and Texas Rangers. At 52-59, there would have to be an awful lot go the Blue Jays’ way for the remainder of the season, but there are still plenty of reasons to keep tuning in this season, contending of not.

For interest sake, let’s have a look at the teams the Blue Jays would need to surpass in the standings, and how feasible that may be.