Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit his 47th home run and the Toronto Blue Jays pressed their AL wild-card chase to the final day of the regular season by thumping the Baltimore Orioles 10-1 Saturday.
The Blue Jays launched five homers while Alek Manoah allowed one hit over seven innings to help Toronto close within one game of wild card co-leaders Boston and the New York Yankees.
“It’s October baseball and we’re trying to make a push,” Manoah said. “We’re just focused on controlling what we can control.”
The Blue Jays are 2-0 to start October after going 20-9 in September.
“The level of confidence that we’re playing with right now is amazing,” Manoah said. “Everything is kind of clicking, our bullpen, our starters, our offense.”
George Springer, Teoscar Hernandez, Bo Bichette and Danny Jansen all went deep for Toronto. The Blue Jays lead the majors with a franchise-record 258 home runs, topping the 257 they hit in 2010.
With New York losing 12-3 at home against the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston’s 5-3 win against Washington, the Blue Jays have now climbed to within one game of the Yankees and Red Sox in the American League wild-card grapple.
The Red Sox need a win Sunday to punch a playoff ticket where they’ll host Tuesday’s wild-card game regardless of New York’s outcome. If the Red Sox lose Sunday, they will still be assured entry into a tiebreaker game Monday.
The Blue Jays and Yankees could potentially find themselves in a four-way tie with Boston and Seattle at the end of the regular season. That would mean two tie-breaker games on Monday, with the winners gaining the two American League wild-card slots and playing on Tuesday.
Result of tonight’s Angels-Mariners game is irrelevant to Blue Jays chances of playing past Sunday.
But if you want to preserve the possibility of a four-way tie for the two wild card spots, you’re cheering for Seattle.
Manoah (9-2) retired the final 12 batters he faced and struck out 10. The rookie has a 1.69 ERA in winning his past four starts – his streak includes two wins over Tampa Bay, the AL’s best team.
Springer had four hits and scored twice. Santiago Espinal had three hits and an RBI as Toronto collected 14 hits, the 71st time this season they’ve had 10 or more.
With his 450-foot drive off John Means (6-9) in the first, Guerrero closed within one of Kansas City’s Salvador Perez for the major league lead.
“They gave me the pitch I was looking for, what I was working on in BP, and I took advantage of that,” Guerrero said through a translator.
Hernandez hit a solo shot off Means in the first, his 32nd, and Springer hit a three-run homer off Means in the second, his 20th. Springer is among seven Toronto players to hit 20 or more home runs this season, joining Guerrero, Hernandez, Marcus Semien, Bichette, Randal Grichuk and Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
Toronto also had seven players hit 20 or more in 2000 and 2010.
Toronto became the fourth AL East team to reach 90 wins, making this the first division since three-division play started in 1994 with four 90-win teams. It’s only the second since division play began in 1969 that it’s happened – the 1978 AL East also had four 90-win teams with New York, Boston, Milwaukee and Baltimore.
“It’s impressive, man,” Montoyo said. “This team deserves so much credit, and we’re going to go all the way to 162. I’m so proud of these guys.”
The game was delayed for several minutes after home plate umpire Chris Guccione left the field to receive medical attention following the top of the third inning. Guccione was eventually replaced by second base umpire Chris Conroy. Crew chief Mark Wegner remained at first base with Alan Porter at third.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Canucks announced Tuesday that defenceman Alex Edler will sign a one-day contract in order to officially retire as a member of the NHL team.
The signing will be part of a celebration of Edler’s career held Oct. 11 when the Canucks host the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Canucks selected Edler, from Ostersund, Sweden, in the third round (91st overall) of the 2004 NHL draft.
He played in 925 career games for the Canucks between the 2006-07 and 2020-21 seasons, ranking fourth in franchise history and first among defencemen.
The 38-year-old leads all Vancouver defencemen with 99 goals, 310 assists and 177 power-play points with the team.
Edler also appeared in 82 career post-season contests with Vancouver and was an integral part of the Canucks’ run to the 2011 Stanley Cup final, putting up 11 points (2-9-11) across 25 games.
“I am humbled and honoured to officially end my career and retire as a member of the Vancouver Canucks,” Edler said in a release. “I consider myself lucky to have started my career with such an outstanding organization, in this amazing city, with the best fans in the NHL. Finishing my NHL career where it all began is something very special for myself and my family.”
Edler played two seasons for Los Angeles in 2021-22 and 2022-23. He did not play in the NHL last season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
The sixth-ranked Canadian women will face World Cup champion Spain in an international friendly next month.
Third-ranked Spain will host Canada on Oct. 25 at Estadio Francisco de la Hera in Almendralejo.
The game will be the first for the Canadian women since the Paris Olympics, where they lost to Germany in a quarterfinal penalty shootout after coach Bev Priestman was sent home and later suspended for a year by FIFA over her part in Canada’s drone-spying scandal.
In announcing the Spain friendly, Canada Soccer said more information on the interim women’s coaching staff for the October window will come later. Assistant coach Andy Spence took charge of the team in Priestman’s absence at the Olympics.
Spain finished fourth in Paris, beaten 1-0 by Germany in the bronze-medal match.
Canada is winless in three previous meetings (0-2-1) with Spain, most recently losing 1-0 at the Arnold Clark Cup in England in February 2022.
The teams played to a scoreless draw in May 2019 in Logroñés, Spain in a warm-up for the 2019 World Cup. Spain won 1-0 in March 2019 at the Algarve Cup in São João da Venda, Portugal.
Spain is a powerhouse in the women’s game these days.
It won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2022 and was runner-up in 2018. And it ousted Canada 2-1 in the round of 16 of the current U-20 tournament earlier this month in Colombia before falling 1-0 to Japan after extra time in the quarterfinal.
Spain won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2018 and 2022 and has finished on the podium on three other occasions.
FC Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati (2023) and Alexia Putellas (2021 and ’22) have combined to win the last three Women’s Ballon d’Or awards.
And Barcelona has won three of the last four UEFA Women’s Champions League titles.
“We continue to strive to diversify our opponent pool while maintaining a high level of competition.” Daniel Michelucci, Canada Soccer’s director of national team operations, said in a statement. “We anticipate a thrilling encounter, showcasing two of the world’s top-ranked teams.”
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024
TORONTO – The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced cookie brand Oreo as the team’s helmet sponsor for the upcoming NHL season.
The new helmet will debut Sunday when Toronto opens its 2024-25 pre-season against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena.
The Oreo logo replaces Canadian restaurant chain Pizza Pizza, which was the Leafs’ helmet sponsor last season.
Previously, social media platform TikTok sponsored Toronto starting in the 2021-22 regular season when the league began allowing teams to sell advertising space on helmets.
The Oreo cookie consists of two chocolate biscuits around a white icing filling and is often dipped in milk.
Fittingly, the Leafs wear the Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s “Milk” logo on their jerseys.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
