After failing to fully capitalize on a relatively softer schedule and barely scraping a series split against the Baltimore Orioles, the Toronto Blue Jays needed to step up to shift the narrative. Doom and gloom hung over the team as they failed to show any sign of extended winning streaks or sparks — something needed to change quickly to renew hope.

Many deemed the Oakland Athletics as one of the easier opponents for the Blue Jays, especially over the next few weeks. While that may be true to some degree, it’s also undeniable that the Athletics are no longer the laughingstock. With a record of 25-39, Oakland is a pesky team with more experienced young players throughout the roster. They aren’t going to let any team walk all over them so fast.

Sure enough, the Athletics didn’t make it easy for the Blue Jays to crack their code for the first game in the series. The offence was anemic at best for both Toronto and Oakland on Friday night but the Athletics walked it off in the ninth by out-pitching and out-hitting the Blue Jays. On Toronto’s side, the pessimism around the team’s underperformance and the “sell everything” grew even more as the Blue Jays fell short far too often.

As pressure mounted for Toronto to come back to life, the team needed to turn things around to boost confidence. With Kevin Gausman on the mound, the Blue Jays were on a mission to find their form again. Shape up or ship out — the goal was clear.

The Saturday afternoon game didn’t start promising for Toronto at first as second baseman Davis Schneider popped out in foul territory at the top of the first. The Blue Jays already haven’t scored in the first inning for 29 straight games, and it seemed the team couldn’t overcome the first-inning curse. Just when hope seemed to slip away, something unusual started happening slowly but surely. With catcher Danny Jansen’s sacrifice fly at the top of the first inning scoring the newly called-up Spencer Horwitz, the Blue Jays finally broke their scoreless first-inning streak and the curse that followed them for nearly a month. Even though it took some time for Toronto’s lineup to grasp Oakland’s starting pitcher Luis Medina’s arsenal, the Blue Jays eventually figured him out to score five runs at the top of the fifth.

The Blue Jays’ offence found its stride again as they took advantage of Oakland’s mediocre pitching on Saturday. By and large, Toronto’s lineup produced one home run, two doubles and two singles while capitalizing on a wild pitch to score a run. The Blue Jays scored seven runs to overpower the Athletics and showcased their offensive capability at its best.

On the other side, Kevin Gausman pulled off an absolute gem of an outing. Unlike his forgettable start against the Orioles earlier this week, he managed to keep Oakland’s lineup guessing and successfully prevented the A’s from scoring any runs. Gausman’s pitch efficiency was also outstanding as he pitched until the bottom of the ninth to shut out Oakland altogether. That’s how Gausman earned his very first nine-inning complete game with 10 strikeouts and a shutout.

With a convincing win against the Athletics on Saturday, the Blue Jays are now on their way to making up their win-loss deficit. Winning the American League East division may not be in play anymore, but believe it or not, Toronto is only two games out of securing the third Wild Card spot even with a 31-33 win-loss record.

If anything is contributing to a more chaotic playoff picture, it’s the fact that teams with similar records are bunched up in the Wild Card mix. As of today, the Blue Jays are competing with the Minnesota Twins, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers to earn the third spot. It’s also worth noting that the Tigers, Rays and Blue Jays share the same win-loss record of 31-33.

Such is the blessing and curse of the expanded playoff format in baseball. The expansion gives more teams hope to sneak into playoffs while bringing more conservatism and hesitation to trade deadlines as more teams seek to compete. In a way, the Blue Jays are a current beneficiary of the current playoff format since they aren’t completely out of contention despite their general subpar performance this season.

The sell narrative won’t go away from Toronto until the team restores its record and goodwill by putting together a consistently reliable performance all around. But the fact of the matter is that the Blue Jays still have the chance to carry out a miracle in the sea of mediocrity. As long as Toronto can find different ways to win, there will be a seat at the table for it to prove its worth finally. Maybe all hope isn’t lost just yet.