The Blue Jays take on the Texas Rangers over the weekend, currently two games back of the Cleveland Guardians in the battle for the third and final wild card spot.
Entering play on Wednesday, the Toronto Blue Jays are 75-77 with 10 games to go in the regular season.
They trail the Cleveland Guardians by two games in the battle for the third and final wild card spot in the American League. They own the tiebreaker over Cleveland.
But, as we discussed earlier on Wednesday, there are more worries than just Cleveland for the Blue Jays. The Jays do not have the tiebreaker with the Chicago White Sox, who might fall into wild card position based upon their divisional battle with the Guardians. And furthermore, the Texas Rangers are now in the mix for a playoff spot as well. They are 1.5 games back of Cleveland, and they are 0.5 games ahead of Toronto.
Fortunately, the Blue Jays have a chance to gain some ground and/or create some separation from Texas this weekend when the two teams engage in a three-game series in Arlington.
And in anticipation of that series, the Blue Jays have amended their pitching rotation. As noted by Mitch Bannon, Dylan Cease will start Game 1 on Friday night with Jose Soriano starting Game 2 on Saturday.
The Blue Jays will have an off day on Thursday following the conclusion of Wednesday's series finale with the Detroit Tigers, so there will be a day of rest for Cease and Soriano, who last pitched on Sept. 13 and 14. These games will fall on Sept. 18 and 19, meaning it's still a normal rest progression.
About Cease
Signed to a seven-year deal worth $210 million in the offseason, Cease has been everything the Blue Jays could have asked for. He's basically guaranteed to finish in the Top-2 of the American League Cy Young voting, and he'll certainly get some votes for the award's top spot too. He's gone 11-5 with a 2.38 ERA, striking out an American League-best 236 batters in 166.1 innings.
Though he did miss a few starts because of a hamstring issue, this will be his sixth consecutive season with 30 starts or more, proving that he's durable as well. This start on Friday will be start No. 29. Opponents are hitting only .178 against him.
Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Dylan Cease (84) throws out Baltimore Orioles first baseman Pete Alonso (not pictured) at first base during the third inning at Rogers Centre. John E. Sokolowski-Imagn ImagesAs for Soriano
Acquired from the Los Angeles Angels at the trade deadline, Soriano is a player that is helping now - and will help in the future. He's gone 3-1 with a 4.27 ERA in Toronto, which is not quite as good as he was with the Angels (9-6, 3.29 ERA), but he's flashed mid-to-upper 90s velocity with good secondary stuff.
There's certainly something to work with there for the Jays in the future. Soriano, Cease and Trey Yesavage make up a clear 1-2-3 in the rotation in 2027.
As for now
Max Scherzer pitches against Keider Montero on Wednesday at 3:07 p.m. ET. The Blue Jays are trying to avoid the sweep.
