AL East Magic Number Update: Former Blue Jays Prospects Puts Yankees Further Behind

The Toronto Blue Jays did their job and got a little help from some old friends in the race for the AL East division title. On Monday night, Toronto won 2-1 in extra innings over the Tampa Bay Rays, as George Springer knocked in the go-ahead run with a single in the 11th. It got Toronto to 88-62 and gave them their fifth straight win.

While the win was great, what was maybe even sweeter was the Yankees loss as they were carved up by a former Blue Jays prospect. Simeon Woods Richardson kept New York off the scoreboard in one of his most dominant outings to date. Woods Richardson threw six shutout innings of two-hit ball, while striking out 11 hitters.

Woods Richardson was traded by Toronto to the Twins in 2021 for Jose Berrios. While Woods Richardson has shown flashes of what made him a top prospect, he has struggled to stick around at the MLB level ever since his debut in 2022. While 2025 hasn't been smooth sailing either, his start on Monday night is exactly what the Twins are hoping to see more of from the 24-year-old right hander.

It was the first career start for Woods Richardson against the Yankees and it was also the first time in his career that he reached double digit strikeouts in a single game. While he might not have played for Toronto at the big league level he may have just made one of the biggest contributions to Toronto's division title chances as anybody this season.

Meantime, on the offensive side of the ball, the player traded along with Woods Richardson to the Twins, Austin Martin, drove in four runs in the victory. Martin was a first round pick (No. 5) by Toronto in 2020 and was traded just a year later at the trade deadline. At 26-years-old, Martin looks like he's figuring things out for the Twins with a slash line of .293/.393/.397 and a 120 OPS+ in 40 games this season.

Martin opened up the scoring by cashing in a run on a fielders choice in the bottom of the third. He then hit a bases clearing double in the bottom of the seventh to put the Twins ahead 6-0, finishing his night going 1-4 with four RBIs and a run scored.

With the Blue Jays win and the Yankees loss, Toronto moves five games ahead of New York in the AL East standings. It drops their magic number to clinch the AL East to nine games, while the Blue Jays can officially clinch a playoff berth before the end of the week with that magic number down to just four.