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Jays need to bear down and take top spot in wild card race

Jose Berrios #17 of the Toronto Blue Jays pitches to the New York Yankees in the first inning during their MLB game at the Rogers Centre on September 27, 2022 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Jose Berrios #17 of the Toronto Blue Jays pitches to the New York Yankees in the first inning during their MLB game at the Rogers Centre on September 27, 2022 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Photo by Mark Blinch /Getty Images

Whether the Blue Jays clinch a playoff spot while they’re idle today (with a Red Sox win over the Orioles), tomorrow or the next day, it’s almost certainly going to happen.

Fangraph had their chances of grabbing a berth at 99.9% way back on Sept. 21, and they’ve gone 3-4 since then.

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But what will they do when they get to the post-season tournament?

Since the system allowing more than only division winners into the playoffs was first implemented in 1994 with one team from each league qualifying, the World Series has been won by a wild-card team seven times:

– Florida Marlins, in 1997 and 2003.

– Anaheim Angels in 2002.

– Boston Red Sox in 2004.

– St. Louis Cardinals in 2011.

– San Francisco Giants in 2014.

– Washington Nationals in 2019.

A wild-card team appeared in the World Series each year from 2002-2007.

What the Jays want to do is clinch the top wild-card spot so they can host all three games (if necessary) in the best-of-three Wild Card Series, which will be played between Friday, Oct. 7 and Sunday, Oct. 9.

Historically, home teams have won 54.7 percent of all post-season games.

It’s only a slight edge, but at this time of year, any edge is a good one.

They want to take the wild-card spot cleanly, too, as they lose the tie-breakers to both Seattle and Tampa.

As of this afternoon, Toronto has a half-game lead on Tampa and is up two on Seattle.

Meanwhile, as of Sept. 27 the Jays had the sixth shortest odds to win the World Series at +1700 on bet365.

-Don Brennan

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