Despite the loss to New York, the Blue Jays’ playoff magic number sits at one

These past three games have been challenging for the Blue Jays and their fans. The fanfare surrounding Aaron Judge and the AL Home Run record is at an all-time high, especially after he tied Yankees legend Roger Maris last night with his 61st blast, and also because the Jays are so close to clinching a playoff spot with just six games left on the season.

Although it would have been great for the Jays to sweep the Yankees and continue gaining ground in the AL Wild Card and clinch a playoff spot, with the Baltimore Orioles losing last night to the Boston Red Sox, the club’s magic number has dwindled down to just one. Essentially, the Blue Jays need to win just one more game this season or the Baltimore Orioles need to lose one more game in order to clinch a playoff spot via the Wild Card. The Yankees have already won the division, evident by their celebrations just a few nights ago.

Overall, these past few games have been challenging against the Bronx Bombers, with the Monday night affair providing some extra inning heroics via Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and a strong outing from the bullpen, followed by the two games which saw the bullpen give up some runs and also some other on the field lapses, both defensively and on the basepaths.

The Blue Jays’ magic number sits at one

Although a bit concerning given what is currently at stake, the Jays have an off day today before they welcome the Red Sox for a three-game series at the Rogers Centre. After that, they will finish the year in Baltimore for a three-game series, which at that time, will hopefully see the Jays fighting for the first AL Wild Card spot over just making the playoffs.

The Blue Jays are first in the AL Wild Card, with the Tampa Bay Rays 2.0 games behind in second and the Mariners 0.5 game behind them. Both the Rays and Mariners still have a game to make up on the Jays, which they will both play tonight, so Toronto could see their lead dwindle to just one game should the Rays win.

Luckily for the Blue Jays, once Tampa is done with Cleveland, they will have to face the AL-leading Houston Astros before facing Boston to finish out the year, which could provide some ground for the Jays to gain some space on their division rivals. For the Mariners, they finish their year against the Athletics and Tigers, so not the strongest schedule for the West coast team but they did recently drop a three-game series against the A’s just over a week ago, so nothing is guaranteed.

With the Red Sox and Orioles playing tonight, there is a chance the Blue Jays magic number ends tonight should the Orioles lose. While it would be unfortunate to not see the Jays celebrating on the field knowing they are heading to postseason baseball, at this point, I am sure many Jays fans would be ecstatic knowing that a spot in the playoffs is guaranteed with so few games left on the year.