‘It’s not easy to intimidate this Blue Jays team’: What U.S. media is saying about Toronto’s win over the New York Yankees

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This article was published 30/09/2021 (1493 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Toronto Blue Jays beat the New York Yankees 6-5 on Wednesday, a heart-stopping victory in front of almost 30,000 fans at Rogers Centre.

The win moved the Jays two games behind the Yankees for the top wild-card berth and kept Toronto one game back of the Boston Red Sox for the second wild-card spot.

The Mariners beat Oakland Athletics 4-2, keeping Seattle a half game behind the Red Sox, setting up for an exciting final weekend of baseball.

The Jays and Yankees play the final game of the three-game series tonight (7:07 p.m., Sportsnet).

Here’s what the U.S. media had to say about Thursday night’s game (with web links to the stories):

ESPN columnist David Schoenfield wrote that the Jays would be the most entertaining team to make the playoffs.

“I think most hardcore baseball fans who don’t root for the Yankees or Red Sox would prefer to see the Blue Jays in the playoffs. TV executives, not so much. It’s not just that we’ve seen the Yankees and Red Sox in the postseason so much over the decades — and the Red Sox just won it all three years ago. It’s simply that the Blue Jays are fun, imposing and, frankly, would be the more entertaining team to watch in October.”

Yahoo Sports’ Julia Kreuz wrote about the pressure the Jays face playing at home.

“It’s not easy to intimidate this Blue Jays team — not even with over 29,000 fans in the middle of the closest playoff chase in recent memory.”

New York Post writer Joel Sherman thinks Yankees starter Gerrit Cole is partially to blame for New York’s loss, saying that he is “a question mark at worst possible time.”

“But the loser Wednesday night for the Yankees was Gerrit Cole. He lost whatever lingering chance he had at his first Cy Young Award. He lost any sense of invulnerability down the stretch when the Yankees wanted to look to their ace for a sure win every fifth day. And he lost what became a 6-5 Blue Jays triumph everywhere but the box score.”

Multiple outlets were raving about Marcus Semien, who hit his 44th home run of the season, including CBS Sports’ RJ Anderson who wrote:

“Semien joined the Blue Jays on a one-year contract worth $18 million over the off-season. Needless to say, his next contract should be longer and more lucrative based on the year he’s had.”

New York Daily News columnist Kristie Ackert praised the current Yankees bullpen despite their loss Wednesday:

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“This is far from the bullpen the Yankees expected, but it’s thriving.

It’s not the bullpen the Yankees planned on; Zack Britton and Darren O’Day are out for the season and Aroldis Chapman hasn’t been the shutdown closer they expected. But it’s been remarkably efficient. Severino, Clay Holmes and Michael King are stepping into big roles as the Bombers roll to the post-season.”

Mike Rosenstein of NJ.com explained how the tie-breakers work, with the odds of the Yankees clinching a wild-card dropping. His lead summed it up perfectly for Yankees fans:

“Too close for comfort.”

Erin LeBlanc is a reporter for the Star’s radio room based in Toronto. Reach Erin via email: eleblanc@thestar.ca