It’s now or never for the Blue Jays with the Athletics and the Yankees on tap

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This article was published 02/09/2021 (1511 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Blue Jays’ season might be hanging by a thread but they’re not out of it quite yet.

Manager Charlie Montoyo’s squad is entering the make-or-break part of its schedule. With three games looming against the Oakland A’s, followed by a four-game set against the New York Yankees, it’s now or never for a team that hopes to be playing in October.

Following a 10-2 stretch in late July and early August, the Jays seemed destined for the post-season. A 9-12 skid came after, which included series losses to Seattle, Detroit and the lowly Washington Nationals and put the entire year in jeopardy.

The Jays’ recent woes caused some fans and members of the media to lose faith in a team that, at least on paper, should be one of the top clubs in the American League. After such a sluggish stretch, the skepticism makes sense. But while the season might be over in a week, maybe even a few days, it’s not a fait accompli right now, not with an opportunity to gain ground on the other contenders staring them in the face. A bad week will take the Jays out of the race entirely, a productive one would put them in position to make one final push.

The Jays no longer control their own fate. They’re going to need some help to get back in the race, but they can apply pressure on the teams ahead of them in the standings with a good stretch. There are five clubs still in the mix for the two wild-card spots and the next week presents an opportunity to inflict some damage on two of them.

The Jays are 6 1/2 games back of the Yankees for the first wild-card spot, a deficit that would normally seem insurmountable with 30 games to play, but seven of those will be played against the Bronx Bombers. There was also a 4 1/2-game gap, heading into Thursday night, between the Jays and Red Sox for the second wild card. Those two teams won’t face each other again in the regular season but Boston hardly seems untouchable following a recent COVID-19 outbreak that sidelined 11 players and coaches, including all-star Xander Bogaerts.

Then there are the three games the Jays must make up on the A’s and the one game on the Mariners.

The Jays made this a lot more difficult on themselves with a sluggish August, but this isn’t “Mission: Impossible.” What’s required are series victories against the A’s and Yankees. Then, with 14 games remaining against last-place teams Minnesota and Baltimore, the Jays can at least say they have a chance.

“Every game matters, it doesn’t matter how you get it done,” Jays second baseman Marcus Semien said following Wednesday’s 5-4 victory over Baltimore. “We want to be a team that can win any kind of way. Early in the year, a lot of big blowouts, the run differential was huge, but none of that matters now. Getting the W, sometimes it takes a big play at the end, sometimes you jump on them early. However we can do it, we’re going to do it.”

If the Jays intend to go on a run, it will have to be on the backs of their high-powered lineup. The offence, a strength for most of the year, became a surprising weakness for long stretches in August. Over their last 18 games, the Jays are averaging 3.5 runs. Prior to that stretch, they had scored the third-most runs in the majors. Since then, 24 clubs have scored more.

Even with an improved starting rotation and bullpen, that production isn’t going to cut it. The good news is that George Springer is back following another stint on the injured list and this team can pop off at any time. It just needs to happen right away, otherwise it won’t be long before players inside the clubhouse start making plans for October that have nothing to do with the sport they play for a living.

“I think, late in the year, there’s more of a book on us,” Semien said of the recent struggles. “Teams attack us a certain way. We’re going to have to understand how they’re attacking us here in September and make adjustments. I’m looking at the (Baltimore) series win, I think we did a good job playing good baseball. We won the series, and we’ll move on from there.

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“In terms of the offence, we’re a balanced group that can do a lot of good things. But you have to understand there’s a book on us now and they will attack us the way they think they can get us out.”

The Jays are at the point of the season where they cannot afford to lose ground. They likely need to win at least two of three games from Oakland and three of four from the Yankees.

It might take 90 wins to grab one of the wild-card spots, which means the Jays would have to go 20-10 over the final 30 games to get in. Difficult? Absolutely. Impossible? No, at least not with a strong starting staff that includes Robbie Ray, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Jose Berrios and Alek Manoah, accompanied by that lineup that could break out at any minute.

It’s time for the Jays to make a move in the standings. If that fails to happen over the next week, then we can write off their 2021 season. But doing so now would be a tad premature.

Gregor Chisholm is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @GregorChisholm or reach him via email: gchisholm@thestar.ca