AL Wild Card update: Orioles do Blue Jays huge favor after Toronto's offense dries up

The Toronto Blue Jays are likely not smiling as they get on the plane and head home from California, but they are probably happy this road trip is over. A nine game games in nine days trip that took them through Cleveland, Kansas City and West Sacramento ended with the Blue Jays going 5-4, including a four game winning streak.

However, considering the last two series were against two of the worst teams in the American League, the Blue Jays probably should have gained at least one extra win on this trip - and one extra win matters a ton at this stage of the season. One extra win would have had them tied, again, with the Guardians in the standings. Instead, after a 2-0 loss to the Athletics on Wednesday, the Blue Jays sit 73-74 and one game back of the final Wild Card spot.

“It was a frustrating way to end the otherwise pretty good road trip,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider told reporters after the game. Toronto had just six hits against the Athletics who used a bullpen day to frustrate Toronto's lineup. While they went 2-for-4 with Runners in Scoring Position, their nine strikeouts and six overall hits weren't good enough.

Vladimir Guerreo Jr., in particular had another game where he could have potentially changed the outcome. In the top of the fifth with runners on the corners and one out with the Blue Jays down 2-0, Guerrero swung at the first pitch of the at-bat and grounded into a 1-4-3 double play to end the inning. He also hit a towering fly ball to deep left field in the top of the eighth that was caught at the warning track to end that inning.

Schneider was asked about Guerrero's inability to come through in those moments and he told reporters, "In every situation, not just him, everyone, when you have some traffic out there, it's just getting a good pitch to hit. I think that no one wants to do that more than Vlad. And a lot of times, him or anyone, it's kind of waiting for a pitch you can do a little bit more with.”

It feels like these arent' the messages that need to be iterated when the team is 147 games into the season, but perhaps that's one of the reasons for why they are where they are at this point, and thankful that a divsision rival was able to help them out.

The Orioles, who aren't out of the Wild Card race themselves, got a big win over the Guardians on Wednesday as well. They scored eight runs in the third inning to propel themselves to a 9-5 win, to push their record to 71-76. They are now three games back of the final Wild Card spot, but a 3-7 record in their last ten hasn't done them any favours.

Wild Card standings still jammed with 15 games left to play

The win by the Orioles kept the Guardians from going two games in front of the Blue Jays. One of the most notable markers to come out of this road trip for Toronto was winning their series against Cleveland, which gives them the tiebreaker should they finish with identical records after 162 games.

But make no mistake about it, Wednesday's loss against the A's was a missed opportunity for Toronto, and it's only thanks to the Orioles offensive outburst that they are just one game back. That loss also kept the Texas Rangers (72-74) within striking distance, even after their 3-2 loss to the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday.

It's mostly an off-day for teams in the Wild Card hunt on Thursday (Sept. 10) with just Texas and Seattle wrapping up their three game series. The weekend will bring on a whole new slate of chances for the Blue Jays to make up ground, while scoreboard watching.

The Blue Jays host the Orioles for three at Rogers Centre starting on Friday (Sep. 11), while the Guardians visit Minnesota for three games and the Rangers are in Arizona.

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