The club was returning home after an impressive road trip to New York and Boston. Members of the 1992 World Series championship team returned to town to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the title. And the Los Angeles Angels, a top team destined to miss the post-season again, were the opponent. Instead, the ceremony honoring the 1992 champions was the only highlight of what turned out to be a horrific three-game set for the 2022 team. The Angels outscored Toronto 22-3 — with two shutouts — and all the excitement after the road trip quickly evaporated. To make matters worse, the teams the Blue Jays are competing against for wild-card spots kept winning, and Toronto woke up Monday morning in third place, two games back of both the Tampa Bay Rays and Seattle Mariners . With just 36 games left on the calendar, the Blue Jays can’t afford many more weekends like the one they just had. IF THE POST-SEASON STARTED TODAY… Nope. 1 Houston Astros (bye) No. 2 New York Yankees (bye) No. 3 Cleveland Guardians vs. No. 6 Toronto Blue Jays No. 4 Tampa Bay Rays vs. No. 5 Seattle Mariners Note that MLB has introduced a new 12-team format for the 2022 postseason. Six AL teams and six NL teams will advance in a simple bracket-style playoff. The top two seeds get a bye in the first round. The No. 1 seed will then face the winner of the No. 4 vs. No. 5 matchup, and the No. 2 seed will meet the winner of No. 3 vs. No. 6 in the second round. WITHIN DISTANCE…The Baltimore Orioles are the team most likely to upset the wild-card field as the remaining teams in close proximity compete for the AL Central crown. Baltimore is currently 1.5 games behind the Blue Jays after taking two of three from first-place Houston over the weekend. The Guardians (67-59) hold the lead in the AL Central but are just a half-game ahead of the Orioles in the overall standings. The Twins (65-61) and White Sox (63-65) are closer to the division title than the wild card. The Red Sox beat the Rays twice this weekend, but poor performances against the Blue Jays and Orioles leave them on the edge of contention at this point. PLAYOFF ODDS REPORT…Here’s what FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference are projecting, as of Monday morning, for the playoff odds between the AL teams battling for the wild card spots… Toronto’s FanGraphs odds: 90.9% | Toronto’s Baseball-Reference Odds: 65.8% Seattle’s FanGraphs odds: 94.2% | Seattle’s Baseball-Reference Odds: 92.6% Tampa Bay’s FanGraphs Odds: 85.6% | Tampa Bay’s Baseball-Reference odds: 70.2% Cleveland’s FanGraphs Odds: 66.5% | Cleveland’s Baseball-Reference Odds: 70.0% Baltimore’s FanGraphs odds: 8.5% | Baltimore’s Baseball-Reference Odds: 49.6% Minnesota’s FanGraphs Odds: 38.0% | Minnesota’s Baseball-Reference odds: 31.4% Chicago’s FanGraphs odds: 13.5% | Chicago’s Baseball-Reference odds: 9.3% Boston’s FanGraphs odds: 17.6% | Boston’s Baseball-Reference Odds: 7.2% IMPORTANT GAMES/SERIES THIS WEEK… Cubs at Blue Jays, Blue Jays at Pirates: The Blue Jays have six games this week against two of the weakest teams in the National League, giving them a great opportunity to make up some of the ground they lost this weekend. The highlight of the week might be Tuesday, when Marcus Stroman makes his long-awaited return to Toronto when he starts for the Cubs. Orioles vs. Guardians, Mariners vs. Guardians: The Twins made headlines with some big additions at the trade deadline, but the Guardians have clinched the AL Central title in recent weeks. Cleveland is currently 15-10 in the month of August and returns home after a 3-3 road trip against the Padres and Mariners. Things won’t get any easier at home with back-to-back series against the Orioles and Mariners (again), but the Guardians have proven to be tough competition of late. Rays vs. Yankees: The top two teams in the AL East meet in a weekend series in the Bronx. The Rays (16-9 in August) have been on a roll, posting two separate six-game hitting streaks in August. The Yankees (9-16 in August) are still in control of their own destiny in the division title race, but the Rays enter this matchup with a lot more confidence.
