The Toronto Blue Jays are 5-4 so far in their current 15-game stretch against teams with losing records.
Decent? Sure. Ideal? No.
The Blue Jays sure could use a sweep this week against the fairly terrible Oakland A’s.
It won’t necessarily be easy, though. After going much of the year without significant injuries, the Blue Jays had four regulars out for Sunday’s game in Colorado.
Here’s a look at the Blue Jays-A’s series.
Probable Pitchers
Monday, 4:07 p.m. ET / 1:07 p.m. PT: Toronto RHP Jose Berrios (9-10, 3.70 ERA) vs. Oakland LHP Ken Waldichuk (2-7, 5.92 ERA)
Tuesday, 9:40 p.m. ET / 6:40 p.m. PT: Toronto RHP Chris Bassitt (13-7, 3.81 ERA) vs. Oakland TBA:
Wednesday. 3:37 p.m. ET / 12:37 p.m. PT: Toronto LHP Hyun Jin Ryu (3-1, 2.48 ERA) vs. Oakland LHP J.P. Sears (3-11, 4.60 ERA)
All games on Sportsnet or Sportsnet NOW.
Latest on the Blue Jays
The Blue Jays (75-62) took two of three in Denver against the National League-worst Colorado Rockies over the weekend.
Toronto pulled out a win in the finale 7-5 with a two-run ninth in pouring rain. Whit Merrifield broke the tie with an RBI single and Ernie Clement followed with his third hit of the game to give Toronto some insurance.
The Blue Jays used five relievers after a 59-minute rain delay caused Kevin Gausman to exit following four innings, so the bullpen won’t be in great shape Monday.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. also chipped in with his team-leading 21st home run of the season, while recent call-up Spencer Horwitz hit his first career MLB homer.
The Blue Jays are 1.5 games behind the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros for the second and third wild-card spots.
Latest on the A’s
The A’s (42-95) jumped percentage points ahead of the Kansas City Royals in the race to stay out of the MLB basement with a three-game sweep of the playing-out-the-string Los Angeles Angels over the weekend.
Tied 4-4 heading into the bottom of the seventh Sunday, the A’s exploded for six runs to take charge in what ended up a 10-6 victory.
Rookie first baseman Ryan Noda continued a strong season with a two-run homer. He also reached base three times.
Another first-year player. second baseman Zack Gelof, was named American League rookie of the month for August.
Whether these two youngsters ever experience more team success in Oakland is a major question mark with the team trying to move to Las Vegas.
Injury Report
Shortstop Bo Bichette (right quad strain), third baseman Matt Chapman (right middle finger sprain), catcher Danny Jansen (fractured right middle finger) and DH/first baseman Brandon Belt (lower back tightness) all missed Sunday’s game.
It sounds like Jansen could miss the rest of the regular season. Bichette and Chapman could return next homestand, while Belt is a day-to-day issue.
Buffalo Bisons fans were very familiar with the starting infield for Toronto on Sunday: Catcher Tyler Heineman, Horwitz at first, Davis Schneider at second, Clement at shortstop and Cavan Biggio at third.
Clement Revenge Series?
Clement was claimed off waivers by Oakland from Cleveland last September and finished the season playing six games for the A’s, going 1-for-18.
Oakland released Clement at spring training this year before he signed a minor-league deal with the Blue Jays.
A native of Rochester, N.Y., he has given the Blue Jays a boost since being called up from triple-A Buffalo last week to help fill in for Bichette and Chapman.
Familiar Face
A’s infielder Aledmys Diaz played for the Blue Jays in 2018 after the St. Louis Cardinals traded him to Toronto in late 2017. The trade came after Diaz lost his starting shortstop job in St. Louis to brief Blue Jay Paul DeJong.
Diaz, 33, hit a career-best 18 homers in 2018 with Toronto before he was traded to the Houston Astros for right-hander Trent Thornton.
Season Series
The Blue Jays won two of three against Oakland in a June series at Rogers Centre. Berrios gave up two hits in six innings in a 7-3 win, while Bassitt had a no-decision (four runs in five innings) in a 5-4 loss. Toronto crushed Oakland 12-1 in the series finale, behind a two-hit effort by starter Yusei Kikuchi.
Scoreboard Watching
In good news for the Blue Jays, the Rangers host the Astros in a three-game series this week.
The wild card-leading Tampa Bay Rays are home to the Boston Red Sox, who are four games behind Toronto.
Up Next
After an off-day Thursday, the Blue Jays begin a 10-game homestand with a three-game series against the lowly Royals.
LONDON – Canada will meet three-time champion Germany in the Davis Cup quarterfinals in Malaga, Spain this November.
Canada secured a berth in the quarterfinals — also called The Final 8 Knockout Stage — with a 2-1 win over Britain last weekend in Manchester, England.
World No. 21 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal anchored a five-player squad that included Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., Gabriel Diallo of Montreal, Alexis Galarneau of Laval, Que., and Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, B.C.
The eight-team draw for the quarterfinals was completed Thursday at International Tennis Federation headquarters.
Defending champion Italy will play Argentina, the United States will meet Australia and Spain will take on the Netherlands. Schedule specifics have yet to be released but the Final 8 will be played Nov. 19-24.
Tim Puetz and Kevin Krawietz were unbeaten in doubles play last week to help Germany reach the quarterfinals. The country’s top singles player — second-ranked Alex Zverev — did not play.
The Canadians defeated Germany in the quarterfinals en route to their lone Davis Cup title in 2022. Germany won titles in 1988, ’89 and ’93.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Canada, fuelled by a 2-1 win over the U.S. and scoreless draw with Mexico, has jumped two places to No. 38 in the FIFA men’s world rankings released Thursday.
Of the top six CONCACAF teams, Canada was the only one to move up. Mexico was unchanged at No. 17 while the U.S. and Panama each fell two rungs to No. 18 and 37, respectively
Costa Rica slipped one spot to No. 50 and Jamaica two places to No. 61.
It marks Canada’s highest ranking under coach Jesse Marsch, who was hired in mid-May when the Canadians were ranked 50th. Since then, the team has climbed to No. 49, 48, 40 and now 38.
Canada has been as high as No. 33 in the men’s ranking, achieved in February 2022 under John Herdman with Canada, named the “Most Improved Side” in 2021 by FIFA, turning heads with an unbeaten run in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying.
The new rankings encompass 184 internationals involving teams from all six confederations including 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia, Oceania and South America.
The top 10 was unchanged with Argentina ahead of France, Spain, England, Brazil, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Colombia and Italy. But the gap at the top is closing with Argentina losing 2-1 away to Colombia and 3-1 at home to Italy.
Teams 10 through 15 were also unchanged. But there was movement after that in the form of Japan (, up two), Iran (No. 19, up one) and Denmark (No. 20, up one). Egypt (No. 31), Ivory Coast (No. 33), Tunisia (No. 36) and Algeria (No. 41) all jumped five places while Greece (No. 48) climbed six spots.
The biggest movers were Brunei Darussalam (No. 183) and Samoa (No. 185), who vaulted seven spots on the back of two wins apiece.
Qatar suffered the biggest drop, tumbling 10 places to No. 44.
San Marino remains at the bottom of the rankings in 210th place despite recording its first victory in more than 20 years, San Marino defeated Liechtenstein 1-0 on Sept. 5, ending a 140-game winless run since a 1-0 decision over the same opponent in April 2004.
Liechtenstein fell four places to No. 203.
Canada’s next match is an Oct. 15 friendly against Panama at Toronto’s BMO Field. The next men’s ranking will be released Oct. 24.
—
Follow @NeilMDavidson on X platform, formerly known as Twitter
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024
It has been a difficult start to the NFL season for quarterback Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers.
Carolina has dropped its opening two games after Sunday’s 26-3 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. And Young, the first player taken in the ’23 NFL draft, was 18-of-26 passing for 84 yards with an interception while being sacked twice.
As a result, veteran Andy Dalton will start Sunday when Carolina faces the Las Vegas Raiders (1-1).
According to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., the Chargers’ win was the most accurately predicted moneyline selection by Proline bettors. A whopping 92 per cent of wagers were on Los Angeles beating Carolina with 92 per cent also picking the Chargers to cover -4.5.
In other action that went in favour of Proline bettors: Kansas City edged Cincinnati 26-25 (86 per cent correctly selected the Chiefs to win); Houston got past Chicago 19-13 (81 per cent); the New York Jets defeated Tennessee 24-17 (78 per cent); Pittsburgh beat Denver 13-6 (76 per cent), Washington beat the New York Giants 21-18 (73 per cent); and Seattle toppled New England 23-20 (62 per cent).
However, only five per cent of bettors had the Raiders upsetting Baltimore 26-23.
And there was one winner of Proline’s second week main NFL pool of $407,613.
In NFL futures bets after the second week of the season, the odds for offensive player of the year got shorter for running backs Breece Hall (Jets) and Bijan Robinson (Atlanta) and Detroit receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. But they got longer for running backs Kyren Williams (Rams), Christian McCaffrey (San Francisco) and Jonathan Taylor (Colts).
Quarterbacks Bo Nix (Denver), Jayden Daniels (Washington) and Caleb Williams (Chicago) all had their odds for offensive rookie of the year go up while they went down for running back Ray Davis (Buffalo), tight end Brock Bowers (Raiders) and receiver Malik Nabers (Giants).
Quarterbacks Patrick Mahones (Chiefs), Aaron Rodgers (Jets) and Jalen Hurts (Eagles) all had their odds for regular season MVP go up. But quarterbacks Jordan Love (Packers), Lamar Jackson (Baltimore) and Joe Burrow (Cincinnati) all saw theirs go down.
Kansas City, Philadelphia and Houston had their Super Bowl odds increase while Green Bay, Baltimore and Cincinnati all decreased.
Not surprising, the week’s top events were all NFL games. In order, they were; Buffalo-Miami, Chicago-Houston, Cincinnati-KC, Raiders-Ravens; and Saints-Cowboys.
A Proline retail player cashed in a $26,183 winner from a $10 bet on a 12-leg major-league baseball parlay. Another won $24,602 from a $10 wager on a 12-leg NFL parlay.
A third received $1,737 from a $3 bet on a six-leg NFL parlay.
A digital bettor earned $2,927 from a $25 bet on a five-leg NFL parlay while a second had a $704.35 return from a $1 wager on a seven-leg NFL parlay.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
