It’ll all come down to Game 162.
The Toronto Blue Jays continued to fend off the New York Yankees with a 5-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday, maintaining their share of the AL East lead and dropping their magic number to one. On their end, the Yankees kept pushing with a 6-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles.
Thanks to the tiebreaker, Toronto will clinch the AL East on Sunday with a win or a Yankees loss.
Not only will the winner of the division get to hang an AL East banner next season, but it will also get the No. 1 seed in the American League playoffs and a bye straight to the ALDS.
Whoever finishes second between Toronto and New York will host a wild-card series, beginning on Tuesday.
Sunday’s Probables
Toronto is expected to send Kevin Gausman to the mound for the win-and-you’re-in start against the Rays. The 34-year-old has been one of baseball’s most effective starters in the second half, owning a 2.49 ERA over 79.2 innings since the all-star break. And now, he’ll likely get the shot to send the Blue Jays to their first division title since 2015.
Tampa Bay will counter with southpaw Ian Seymour, who has been a nice development for the Rays in his rookie season. The 26-year-old enters Sunday with a 2.85 ERA in 53.2 innings.
The Yankees, meanwhile, will face Orioles righty Kyle Bradish, who has a 2.25 ERA in five starts this season. New York is scheduled to have reigning rookie of the year Luis Gil take the ball against Baltimore, as the Yankees look to extend their win streak to eight.
Magic number guide
Baseball’s “magic number” refers to how close a team is to clinching its playoff spot and represents the combined number of wins it needs and losses its closest rival needs to clinch.
MLB.com lists the magic number formula (altered here to include the Blue Jays’ position) as follows:
Blue Jays’ games remaining +1 – (Losses by chasing team – Blue Jays’ losses)
The formula doesn’t account for any tiebreakers, which come down to head-to-head record. Thanks to their dominant play against New York, the Blue Jays have locked down the tiebreaker over the Yankees.
Remaining games for Blue Jays, Yankees
Blue Jays: 1 vs. Tampa Bay.
Yankees: 1 vs. Baltimore.
