The New York Yankees begin a three-game series against their rivals the Toronto Blue Jays here in Toronto.
The Yankees (59-51) fresh off an 8-1 victory over Cleveland Indians Sunday night, are 3 GBL Boston Red Sox in the A.L. East and 2.5 atop the WC spot.
The Yankees, who acquired pitcher Sonny Gray from the Oakland Athletics to bolster their rotation, in their quest to grab the division lead from the Bosox.
The Blue Jays (52-59) coming from a 7-6 letdown from the Houston Astros in Sunday's game, remain mired in last place in their division, 10.5 GBL Boston in the A.L. East, and 5.0 GB for the WC spot. The Jays have failed to make any inroads in the standings, and now embark on their 10 game homestead beginning with this series versus New York.
According to FanGraphs analysis, Toronto's chances to make the postseason is a paltry 4.3% at this stage in the season. On the opposite end, the Yankees are pegged at 74%. For the WC probabilities, New York stands at 55% while the Jays are at 3.9%.
While these are probable projections calculated and determined by grouping and analyzing certain analytics of the teams so far in the season, they are by no means completely absolute.
For the Jays though, unfortunately it may be simply too late to make any headway to climb into a WC spot. Jays fans are still hopeful with a very very very narrow window of opportunity. If the teams ahead of them suddenly fall off a cliff, and the Jays begin winning like never before......
Aaron Judge, the Yankees wunderkind, has fanned out in twenty-four consecutive games. Yes, struck out. He's also in the midst of a slight slump. Not against the Jays, for Judge sports 14 RBIs, 6 homers and 15 hits in 40 at-bats. Not uplifting numbers for Jays pitchers but not a lost cause neither.
The good news for the Blue Jays is their pitching, er, pitchers namely Happ and Estrada who have improved in their last few outings. Particularly true for Happ who is 4-4 in his last seven of ten games, with a an ERA of 3.32.
GO JAYS GO!
