Royals Blow Out Blue Jays but AL East Magic Number Still Drops

All that time spent haggling to make sure that Sportsnet could show the Toronto Blue Jays-Kansas City Royals game on Apple+ was for nothing.

The Blue Jays (89-65) were blown out by the Kansas City Royals, 20-1, at Kaufmann Stadium on Friday, handing Toronto its third straight loss.  

The game got away from the Blue Jays from the start. Kansas City flattened Toronto starter Max Scherzer for seven hits and seven runs before he was pulled after retiring just two hitters. It got so bad that manager John Schneider was ejected. It was a game the Blue Jays just need to flush.

But it didn’t mean Toronto didn’t make progress toward clinching the American League East Division title.

The buzz around Friday’s game was the hope that the Blue Jays could clinch a playoff berth. The scenario was complicated. Toronto had to win, and two of three teams had to lose — Detroit, Boston and Cleveland. After the Blue Jays lost, that didn’t matter. But Toronto could still get help with its magic number to clinch the AL East title.

Going into Friday’s game that number was seven (six with the tiebreaker over the New York Yankees). It’s a combination of Blue Jays wins and New York Yankees losses. New York was in Baltimore on Friday and lost to the Orioles, 4-2. With the loss, Toronto’s magic number dropped to six (five with the tiebreaker). So, it was progress on that front.

Detroit also lost, so the Blue Jays were able to maintain their four-game lead over the Detroit Tigers in the race for the No. 1 seed in the American League playoffs. That No. 1 seed comes with home-field advantage in the AL playoffs and a bye through to the divisional round.

The Blue Jays are seeking to win their first division title since 2015. Since that division title they’ve been to the postseason four other times, but always as a wild card team. The Blue Jays reached the ALCS again in 2016 but fell to Cleveland.

Toronto has a team good enough to duplicate what their 1992 and 1993 teams did, which was win the World Series. That 1993 season was the last time the Blue Jays played in the Fall Classic.

Magic Number to Clinch AL East: 6 (five with tiebreaker)

Toronto Blue Jays Games Remaining: 8

Toronto Blue Jays Remaining Schedule: Sept. 20-21, at Kansas City; Sept. 23-25 vs. Boston; Sept. 26-28, vs. Tampa Bay.

AL East Division Race (after Sept. 19)

Toronto Blue Jays: 89-64 (lead division)

New York Yankees: 86-68 (3.0 games behind)

Boston Red Sox: 84-70 (5.0 games behind)

New York Yankees Remaining Schedule (8 games): Sept. 20-21, at Baltimore; Sept. 23-25 vs. Chicago White Sox; Sept. 26-28, vs. Baltimore.

Boston Red Sox Remaining Schedule (8 games): Sept. 20-21, at Tampa Bay; Sept. 23-25 at Toronto; Sept. 26-28, vs. Detroit.