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AL Wild Card race update: Blue Jays squander chance to surpass Guardians yet again
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Photo credit: © John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Sep 15, 2026, 15:00 EDTUpdated: Sep 15, 2026, 14:34 EDT
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The Toronto Blue Jays are running out of time.
They managed to gain ground on the Baltimore Orioles after taking two of three from their American League East rivals this past weekend. That meant that they entered Monday’s game just one game behind the Cleveland Guardians for the final wild card spot.
But despite the fact that José Soriano carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning, and the Blue Jays had a late lead, they managed to blow a golden opportunity to jump into a playoff spot with a 6-5 loss to the Detroit Tigers. They once again end the night one game behind the Guardians.
The loss has also allowed the Tigers to climb back into the wild card race, as they’ve now won their last five games. They’re still four and a half behind the Guardians with 12 games to go and four teams to jump. As for Tuesday’s game, the Jays have a chance to even up the series, but will turn to a bullpen game. Braydon Fisher (3.22 ERA) is set to start against Drew Anderson (3.80 ERA).
The question is, how did the rest of the out of town scoreboard shakeup?

Out of town scoreboard for September 14th

All eyes were on the Guardians, who fell 7-3 to the Chicago White Sox. Neither team scored through five innings, but the White Sox finally got going in the top of the sixth. With Guardians’ starter Gavin Williams still on the mound, a single and an 18-pitch walk put two runners on. A throwing error brought in the first run of the game, then Chase Meidroth drove in the White Sox’s second run of the game.
Williams retired his final batter and departed with two on the bases, but with Sam Antonacci on the mound, former Blue Jay Randal Grichuk hit a single to load the bases. That brought up Kyle Teel, who drove in two more runs with a double. Then Miguel Vargas hit his 31st home run of the season to put the White Sox up 6-0.
The Guardians scored a run in the top of the seventh, but it was far too little, far too late. In the ninth, the White Sox added another run, shortly before a two-run blast brought the game to its final score, 7-3.
Simply put, the Blue Jays wasted an opportunity to enter Tuesday evening in a playoff spot. With just 11 games remaining, the Jays sit a game behind the Guardians for the final wild card spot, though they own the tiebreaker. Tuesday’s game has a 6:40 PM ET start time, with former Blue Jay Foster Griffin (3.65 ERA) starting against White Sox’s Chris Murphy (3.94 ERA).
The only other team in action with a chance to jump the Guardians for the final wild card spot were the Baltimore Orioles. They defeated the New York Mets 2-1 due in large part to a solo home run by Gunnar Henderson in the top of the eighth.
With the win, the Guardians sit three games behind the Guardians for the final wild card spot, though they have just 11 games remaining. The second game of the series has a 7:10 PM ET start time, with Shane Baz (4.05 ERA) expected to get the start for the Orioles.
The other team with a realistic chance of making the postseason, the Texas Rangers, were off on Monday. Sitting a game and a half behind the Guardians for the final wild card spot, they’ll begin a series against the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday. Jacob deGrom (3.80 ERA) is expected to start for the Rangers, with a start time of 8:05 PM ET.
Also in action on Monday were the Minnesota Twins and the Seattle Mariners. Both teams dropped their game, as the Twins fell 8-3 to the New York Yankees and the Mariners fell 6-4 to the Los Angeles Angels. With the losses, the Twins are five and a half games behind the Guardians and the Mariners are six games behind the Mariners.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, DFOEdmonton, and DFOCalgary. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
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