The Toronto Blue Jays were playing some pretty good baseball for nearly a month.

From July 27th until August 20th, the Jays went 15-8, crawling their way to fighting for a wild card spot. It wasn’t easy either, as they had post-deadline series stretch against the Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phillies, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, and the Yankees again. They took a two-series winning streak into that stretch, and won their first five.

Then came their trip to The Bronx.  During the 15-8 stretch, the Jays batted .248 with runners in scoring position, and an even better .268 if you remove that horrendous 1-19 outing against the Chicago Cubs. Since their final game against the Rays, the Jays are just 10-74 with runners in scoring position.

It’s one of their worst stretches this season, if not the worst, and they are 2-4 in their last six games. More worrying is the fact that they’ve had two or more hits with RISP in just one of the seven games, going 1-x in the other six games. They now sit three and a half games back of a wild card spot.

Desperation is mounting, as is the case for their weekend opponents as well, the Seattle Mariners. It’s the first time the two teams have met in Toronto since the fantastic American League Championship Series last postseason. However, they did play three games in Seattle back in July, with the Mariners taking two of three.

The Mariners will have one of their better starters on the mound, as Emerson Hancock is set to start. Hancock carries a 3.37 ERA and 3.82 FIP over 24 starts, or 133.2 innings of work this season. Like the rest of the Mariners’ starters, the right-handed pitcher is prone to the long-ball, but doesn’t issue many free passes.

On the mound for the Blue Jays is a likely AL Cy Young candidate, Dylan Cease. This season, the first-year Blue Jay has a 2.37 ERA and 2.39 FIP in 144.1 innings of work, with a 36.1 K% and 11.1 BB%. Enough said.

With a righty on the mound, the Blue Jays have a balanced lineup in terms of handedness. Brett Bateman returns to the lineup and bats cleanup, followed by Nathan Lukes and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. George Springer, who hit the go-ahead home run in Game 7 of the ALCS, bats cleanup and is DH’ing.

Jesús Sánchez is back in left field and is batting fifth, followed by Kazuma Okamoto and Andrés Giménez. The latter hit two key home runs in the 2025 ALCS , helping the Blue Jays crawl back from a 2-0 deficit. Ernie Clement and Brandon Valenzuela make up the bottom of their lineup.

Let’s set up Friday’s crucial series opener!

Toronto Blue Jays – Dylan Cease: 8-5 record, 2.37 ERA, 144.1 IP, 209 SO, 64 BB

Seattle Mariners – Emerson Hancock: 7-7 record, 3.37 ERA, 133.2 IP, 125 SO, 32 BB