AL East race goes down to final day with Yankees and Blue Jays tied for lead
AL East race goes down to final day with Yankees and Blue Jays tied for lead
NEW YORK — After 161 games over six months failed to separate the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays, the AL East will be decided on the final day of the regular season.
“Kind of crazy,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Saturday. “That is the beauty of our sport. And for those of us and you guys and fans that live and die with their teams all summer long, it should make for an exciting day.”
New York and Toronto are both 93-68 and assured of postseason berths. The Blue Jays hold the tiebreaker because they won the season series against the Yankees 8-5.
Reigning AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil will take the mound Sunday for the Yankees in the Bronx against Baltimore at the same time two-time All-Star Kevin Gausman faces Tampa Bay in Toronto.
“To have Kev, who has been so steady, so stable and really, really damn good in the second half and most of the season, I've got all the confidence in the world in Kev,” Blue Jays manager John Scheider said following Saturday’s 5-1 victory over the Rays.
Whichever team finishes second in the division will host third-place Boston in a best-of-three Wild Card Series starting Tuesday. The division winner be the AL's top playoff seed and start at home in a best-of-five Division Series on Oct. 4 against that Wild Card Series winner.
New York has Max Fried, Carlos Rodón and rookie Cam Schlittler lined up to start its first three postseason games, whether as a wild card or division winner.
If Toronto winds up a wild card, it likely will send 41-year-old Max Scherzer, a three-time Cy Young Award winner, to the mound in Game 1.
Defending AL champion New York is seeking its second straight AL East title and third in four years.
“It’s fun. It’s exciting,” Yankees star Aaron Judge said after hitting his 53rd home run in Saturday’s 6-1 win over the Orioles, which extended New York’s winning streak to seven. “I wish we had a nice little cushion, a nice little lead in the division. But we’ll take it either way.”
Toronto hasn't won the division since 2015 and hasn't clinched it at home since 1992, when the Blue Jays went on to win the first of consecutive World Series titles — the only ones in franchise history.
“Baseball’s funny, man," Schneider said. “162 is a lot and then you look up and of course it comes down to 162, right, to try to get to where you want to get to.”
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