American League update: Yankees have a chance to catch the Blue Jays

Tuesday’s slate of games didn’t go great for the Toronto Blue Jays.

Until the end of the season, we’ll take a daily look at the happenings among the other potential playoff teams in the American League. We’ll look at how the games went the night before, the Blue Jays’ clinching scenario (until everything is decided), and the slate of coming games.

Let’s take a look at what happened on Tuesday.

Scores

Tuesday’s game against the Boston Red Sox was a painful one to watch. The Jays had plenty of baserunners when Lucas Giolito was on the mound, but went 1-6 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine baserunners. In the bottom of the second with the bases loaded, a ball that would’ve been a two-out, two-run hit was called a foul by the third base ump. The next pitch was called a strike despite it being well out of the zone. In the end, the Red Sox won 4-1.

It looked as if the New York Yankees were going to lose as well, as they had runners on the corners with two outs and down to their final strike. However, former Blue Jay Brandon Eisert airmailed a pitch to tie the game before the Yankees walked it off in a 3-2 victory.

The Seattle Mariners are the only other team with a realistic chance of surpassing the Blue Jays’ record, and they gained a game on the Jays thanks to a 4-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies. On the other hand, the Houston Astros lost 5-1 to the Athletics, meaning that they can’t reach 90 wins.

Another team that can’t surpass the Blue Jays are the Detroit Tigers, as they fell 5-2 to the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday evening. The Guardians have overcome a 15.5-game deficit to take the division lead with just five games remaining.

Blue Jays’ clinching scenario

With the Blue Jays’ defeat and the Yankees’ win, the Blue Jays’ magic number remains at four. However, they have a lot less runway remaining, as they can afford to lose just one of their remaining five games. Going 3-2 could be enough, but the Yankees can still win their remaining five games as they play the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles. If the Jays lose three games, they’ve essentially lost the division as the Yankees will finish with a record better than 3-2.

If the Yankees surpass the Blue Jays, finishing with the second-best record in the American League still has a high probability. As it stands, the Jays would need to go 1-4 over while the Mariners need to win their last five games to finish with a better record than the Blue Jays.

With a win on Wednesday, the Jays will clinch home-field advantage in the first round that they play. That may end up being the Wild Card, as both the Red Sox and Guardians need to win their remaining five games to surpass the Jays, and that’s with the Blue Jays losing their last five games.

Wednesday’s slate of games

The Blue Jays are in tough against the Red Sox, as they have Max Scherzer on the mound against Garrett Crochet. There’s a good chance Crochet wins the American League Cy Young, but the Jays beat him earlier this season, so who knows. That game starts at 7:07 PM ET.

In the Bronx, the Yankees have Max Fried going against the White Sox, so that’s as close to a guaranteed win as you can get. The Yankees’ game starts at 7:05 PM ET. As for the Mariners, they have a 9:40 PM ET start time with Luis Castillo on the mound. The Astros have a 10:05 PM ET start time with Hunter Brown on the mound, while the Guardians and Tigers begin their game at 6:40 PM ET. Jack Flaherty starts for the Tigers, Tanner Bibbee starts for the Guardians.