Toronto Blue Jays: AL East Matchups to Watch For Through the End of the Season

The Toronto Blue Jays certainly have a clear path to the postseason as we look ahead to some key AL East matchups through the end of the 2022 season. With 35 games remaining in the regular season, they’ll face AL East opponents a whopping 25 more times through October 5th; in other words, they control their own fate and can guarantee postseason baseball if they take care of business on the field.

That final stretch includes ten games against a much tougher Baltimore Orioles team that trails Toronto by 2.0 games for the third and final Wild Card spot. It features a key five-game series at home against the Tampa Bay Rays, who are currently a game ahead of the Blue Jays in the Wild Card standings and good for second place in the East. And it includes thirteen straight against AL East peers Tampa Bay (away), New York and Boston (both series at home), and then three in Baltimore to close out the season.

Looking at the remaining strength of schedule for the AL Wild Card picture (using opponent winning percentage), those teams look like this:

Rays:             .544

Mariners:     .449

Blue Jays:     .513

Orioles:         .506

Twins:           .484

Cleveland:    .480

White Sox:   .470

Blue Jays: AL East Matchups to Watch For

After the Rays, Toronto has the toughest remaining strength of schedule for potential AL Wild Card teams but the head-to-head games mean they can gain or lose a game relative to those AL East peers with each win or loss.

The FanGraphs playoff odds page has Toronto as the odds-on favourite to play more October baseball after the regular season. So let’s look at some of those key AL East matchups ahead fans should watch for.