The Blue Jays open up a new series at home with three against the Royals, who have won eight straight games.
At 64-68, the Toronto Blue Jays enter play on Tuesday at 2.0 games back of the third and final wild card spot in the American League.
Though the Jays have just a 16.7 percent chance to make the playoffs, according to Fangraphs, they do have, arguably, the most advantageous schedule in baseball remaining.
The Jays won't play a team currently over .500 for the rest of the season, so there should be plenty of optimism right now for this group to make a late-season charge.
But while Tuesday's new series features the 16-games under .500 Kansas City Royals coming to town, things might not be as easy as they appear. The Royals have actually won eight consecutive games, proving it's not necessarily who you play, it's when you play them.
Here are the pitching matchups heading into another crucial late-season series.
Seth Lugo (5-7, 4.71 ERA) at Max Scherzer (1-6, 7.40 ERA)
Lugo, now 36 years old, still features an excellent curveball, but he isn't missing many bats this season, having struck out just 111 batters in 145.1 innings. He's given up five runs in each of his last two starts and hasn't logged a quality start since Aug. 8, when he gave up three earned runs over six innings against the Chicago Cubs.
Scherzer has also struggled, as he gave up seven earned runs over four innings in his last outing. However, prior to that, he had gone at least five innings in back-to-back starts, surrendering two earned runs or less.
Randy Dobnak (2-1, 1.58 ERA) at Shane Bieber (5-2, 4.53 ERA)
Dobank, picked up off the scrap heap from the Seattle Mariners, is coming off a trio of solid, but unspectacular outings. He managed to give up no runs in his last start, but he went just four innings, surrendering six hits and four walks. Before that, he was better, giving up no earned runs over 5.2.
However, those starts were against the A's and Angels. On Aug. 9, he gave up four earned runs on 10 hits against the much-better Cubs.
Bieber has tossed back-to-back quality starts against the Rays and Yankees, including a seven-inning, one-run performance last time out.
Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Shane Bieber (57) throws a pitch against the Tampa Bay Rays in the first inning at Tropicana Field. Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn ImagesNoah Cameron (8-8, 4.02 ERA) at TBD
The changeup specialist has fanned 128 batters in 143.1 innings this season, and he's coming off two very solid starts. He threw a complete-game one-hitter on Aug. 16 vs. the Angels and then gave up no runs on two hits over five innings against Detroit.
