Based on the schedule, the Toronto Blue Jays need to make a serious playoff push over the next few weeks.
The inconsistent Blue Jays begin a stretch of five series in a row against teams with losing records this weekend, when they entertain the Cleveland Guardians at Rogers Centre.
After this stretch, it’s the American League West-leading Texas Rangers followed by five series against AL East foes — and we all know intradivision play has been a challenge for Toronto this season — to finish the season.
Of course, the Blue Jays, whose hitting concerns are well documented, aren’t guaranteed to win just because they have the edge on paper — see the season series section below.
Here is a look at this Blue Jays-Guardians series.
Probable Pitchers
Friday, 7:07 p.m. ET / 4:07 p.m. PT: Toronto RHP Chris Bassitt (12-6, 3.92 ERA) vs. Cleveland RHP Tanner Bibee (9-3, 3.01 ERA)
Saturday, 3:07 p.m. ET / 12:07 p.m. PT: Toronto LHP Hyun Jin Ryu (2-1, 1.89 ERA) vs. Cleveland LHP Logan Allen (6-6, 3.31 ERA)
Sunday, 1:37 p.m. ET / 10:37 a.m. PT: Toronto LHP Yusei Kikuchi (9-4, 3.52 ERA) vs. Cleveland RHP Noah Syndergaard (2-6, 6.42 ERA)
All games on Sportsnet and SN NOW.
Latest on the Blue Jays
The Blue Jays (70-58) completed their season series against the AL-leading Baltimore Orioles with a bad record of 3-10 after losing their final two games of a series at Camden Yards.
MLB Highlights: Orioles 5, Blue Jays 3
Pretty much needing a sweep to have a shot at making a late run at the AL East, the Blue Jays are now a whopping 9.5 games behind the Orioles.
Thursday night’s finale, which started 70 minutes late because of rain, saw the Orioles score two in the fourth to tie it at 2-2 before cashing in three more runs on Blue Jays starter Jose Berrios in the next inning to take a lead they would not relinquish. Baltimore ended up winning, 5-3.
Brandon Belt is holding the hot bat for Toronto, homering twice in the series after putting two over the fence in the previous series finale against Cincinnati.
The Blue Jays are now 1.5 games behind the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners, who are tied for second in the wild-card race.
Latest on the Guardians
The Guardians (60-68) had a long, unsuccessful day at home on Thursday, losing 6-1 in the completion of a suspended game (the first two innings were played Wednesday) against the Los Angeles Dodgers before falling 9-3 to the same team in the regularly scheduled game.
MLB Highlights: Dodgers 9, Guardians 3
The Thursday sweep gave the Dodgers a 2-1 series win over a Guardians team that was a seller at the trade deadline despite being in a close race at the time with the Minnesota Twins in the weak AL Central.
The roster subtractions, not surprisingly, haven’t helped. The Guardians are 7-14 in August and have fallen six games behind Minnesota.
Injuries, especially to their starting rotation, have not made things easy for the Guardians, who have ran out four rookies to start for much of the year.
One of those newcomers, Bibee, is in the running for the AL rookie of the year award, though he likely won’t top Orioles slugger Gunnar Henderson.
The young arms have held up relatively well. Offence has been the bigger problem for the Guardians, who are 27th in the 30-team MLB in OPS.
Vlad’s Troubling Power Numbers
Blue Jays star first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is hitting over .300 the past 15 games, which is good.
What’s not so good is his lack of power.
Guerrero Jr.’s power struggle hinders Blue Jays again as they drop series finale to Orioles
The Home Run Derby champ has just one homer in August — and that came way back on Aug. 6 — to go with seven RBIs.
With just 18 home runs this year, Guerrero Jr. needs 14 to match last year’s total. He is well back of his career-high 48 in 2021.
Pitching Powerhouses
Despite all the injuries, the Guardians (60-68) have the fourth-best team ERA in baseball at 3.80. The Blue Jays lead the way at 3.68.
Canadian Corner
Guardians catcher Bo Naylor, a native of Mississauga, Ont., has had two multi-hit games in his past three outings.
His older brother Josh, Cleveland’s first baseman, has been sidelined with an oblique sprain.
Fellow Canadian Cal Quantrill, a right-hander from Port Hope, Ont., has been out with right shoulder inflammation. He’s scheduled to make a rehab start at triple-A Columbus on Saturday.
Last Call for Francona?
Long-time Guardians manager Terry Francona hinted at retirement after the season this week, meaning this could be his final series in Toronto.
Francona, 64, has scheduled shoulder replacement surgery and plans on having a pair of hernia operations at the end of this season.
MLB Highlights: Dodgers 6, Guardians 1
Francona, who started his playing career with the Montreal Expos, began managing the Guardians in 2013. Previously, he was the manager for the Boston Red Sox for eight years, winning two World Series.
Season Series
The Blue Jays managed to score all of seven runs in four games in Cleveland early this month, yet still managed to split the series.
Kevin Gausman was a winner in a 1-0 shutout victory, while Kikuchi was a loser in a 1-0 defeat during which Bibee went seven shutout innings.
Syndergaard, a 2010 Blue Jays draft pick, held Toronto to one run in 5.2 innings in a 4-3 win in the series finale.
Out Of Town
The teams directly ahead of the Blue Jays in the wild-card race play teams well out of the playoff picture this weekend.
The Mariners entertain the Kansas City Royals, while the Astros are in Detroit to face the Tigers.
The Red Sox, who are two games behind Toronto, host the NL West-leading Dodgers.
Up Next
The Washington Nationals, tied for last in the NL East, are at Rogers Centre for three games starting Monday.
TORONTO – Singles star Leylah Fernandez and doubles specialist Gabriela Dabrowski will anchor Canada’s five-player lineup when the team tries to defend its Billie Jean King Cup title in mid-November.
The 26th-ranked Fernandez, the 2021 U.S. Open finalist from Laval, Que., is the lone Canadian in the top 100 of the WTA Tour’s singles rankings.
Dabrowski, from Ottawa, is ranked fourth on the doubles list. The 2023 U.S. Open women’s doubles champion won mixed doubles bronze with Felix Auger-Aliassime at the recent Paris Olympics.
Marina Stakusic of Mississauga, Ont., returns after a breakout performance last year, capped by her singles win in Canada’s 2-0 victory over Italy in the final. Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino is also back and Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion from Mississauga, Ont., returns to the squad for the first time since 2022.
“Winning the Billie Jean King Cup in 2023 was a dream come true for us, and not only that, but I feel like we made a statement to the world about the strength of this nation when it comes to tennis,” Canada captain Heidi El Tabakh said Monday in a release. “Once again, we have a very strong team this year with Bianca joining Leylah, Gaby, Rebecca and Marina, making it an extremely powerful team that is more than capable of going all the way.
“At the end of the day, our goal is to make Canada proud, and we’ll do our best to bring the same level of effort and excitement that we had in last year’s finals.”
Fernandez, who beat Jasmine Paolini to clinch Canada’s first-ever title at the competition, is ranked No. 42 in doubles.
Canada, which received an automatic berth as defending champion, will play the winner of the first-round tie between Great Britain and Germany on Nov. 17 at Malaga’s Martin Carpena Arena.
Australia, Italy and wild-card entry Czechia also received first-round byes. The tournament, which continues through Nov. 20, also includes host Spain, Slovakia, the United States, Poland, Japan and Romania.
Stakusic is up 27 spots to No. 128 in the latest world singles rankings. Marino is at No. 134 and Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, is ranked 167th.
Canada will look to become the first team since Czechia in 2016 to successfully defend its Billie Jean King Cup title.
Malaga will also host the Nov. 19-24 Davis Cup Final 8. The Canadian men qualified over the weekend with a 2-1 victory over Great Britain in Manchester.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
PITTSBURGH – Sidney Crosby plans to remain a Pittsburgh Penguin for at least three more years.
The Penguins announced on Monday that they re-signed the 37-year-old from Cole Harbour, N.S., to a two-year contract extension that has an average annual value of US$8.7 million. The deal runs through the 2026-27 season.
Crosby was eligible to sign an extension on July 1 with him entering the final season of a 12-year, $104.4-million deal that carries an $8.7-million salary cap hit.
At the NHL/NHLPA player media tour in Las Vegas last Monday, he said things were positive and he was optimistic about a deal getting done.
The three-time Stanley Cup champion is coming off a 42-goal, 94-point campaign that saw him finish tied for 12th in the league scoring race.
Crosby has spent all 19 of his NHL seasons in Pittsburgh, amassing 592 goals and 1,004 assists in 1,272 career games.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Tadej Pogacar was so dominant on Sunday, Canada’s Michael Woods called it a race for second.
Pogacar, a three-time Tour de France champion from Slovenia, pedalled to a resounding victory at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal.
The UAE Team Emirates leader crossed the finish line 24 seconds ahead of Spain’s Pello Bilbao of Bahrain — Victorious to win the demanding 209.1-kilometre race on a sunny, 28 C day in Montreal. France’s Julian Alaphilippe of Soudal Quick-Step was third.
“He’s the greatest rider of all time, he’s a formidable opponent,” said Woods, who finished 45 seconds behind the leader in eighth. “If you’re not at your very, very best, then you can forget racing with him, and today was kind of representative of that.
“He’s at such a different level that if you follow him, it can be lights out.”
Pogacar slowed down before the last turn to celebrate with the crowd, high-five fans on Avenue du Parc and cruise past the finish line with his arms in the air after more than five hours on the bike.
The 25-year-old joined Belgium’s Greg Van Avermaet as the only multi-time winners in Montreal after claiming the race in 2022. He also redeemed a seventh-place finish at the Quebec City Grand Prix on Friday.
“I was disappointed, because I had such good legs that I didn’t do better than seventh,” Pogacar said. “To bounce back after seventh to victory here, it’s just an incredible feeling.”
It’s Pogacar’s latest win in a dominant year that includes victories at the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia.
Ottawa’s Woods (Israel Premier-Tech) tied a career-best in front of the home crowd in Montreal, but hoped for more after claiming a stage at the Spanish Vuelta two weeks ago.
“I wanted a better result,” the 37-year-old rider said. “My goal was a podium, but at the same time I’m happy with the performance. In bike racing, you can’t always get the result you want and I felt like I raced really well, I animated the race, I felt like I was up there.”
Pogacar completed the 17 climbs up and down Mount Royal near downtown in five hours 28 minutes 15 seconds.
He made his move with 23.3 kilometres to go, leaving the peloton in his dust as he pedalled into the lead — one he never relinquished.
Bilbao, Alaphilippe, Alex Aranburu (Movistar Team) and Bart Lemmen (Visma–Lease) chased in a group behind him, with Bilbao ultimately separating himself from the pack. But he never came close to catching Pogacar, who built a 35-second lead with one lap left to go.
“It was still a really hard race today, but the team was on point,” Pogacar said. “We did really how we planned, and the race situation was good for us. We make it hard in the last final laps, and they set me up for a (takeover) two laps to go, and it was all perfect.”
Ottawa’s Derek Gee, who placed ninth in this year’s Tour de France, finished 48th in Montreal, and called it a “hard day” in the heat.
“I think everyone knows when you see Tadej on the start line that it’s just going to be full gas,” Gee said.
Israel Premier-Tech teammate Hugo Houle of Sainte-Perpétue, Que., was 51st.
Houle said he heard Pogacar inform his teammates on the radio that he was ready to attack with two laps left in the race.
“I said then, well, clearly it’s over for me,” Houle said. “You see, cycling isn’t that complicated.”
Australia’s Michael Matthews won the Quebec City GP for a record third time on Friday, but did not finish in Montreal. The two races are the only North American events on the UCI World Tour.
Michael Leonard of Oakville, Ont., and Gil Gelders and Dries De Bondt of Belgium broke away from the peloton during the second lap. Leonard led the majority of the race before losing pace with 45 kilometres to go.
Only 89 of 169 riders from 24 teams — including the Canadian national team — completed the gruelling race that features 4,573 metres in total altitude.
Next up, the riders will head to the world championships in Zurich, Switzerland from Sept. 21 to 29.
Pogacar will try to join Eddy Merckx (1974) and Stephen Roche (1987) as the only men to win three major titles in a season — known as the Triple Crown.
“Today gave me a lot of confidence, motivation,” Pogacar said. “I think we are ready for world championships.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2024.
