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Instant Reaction: Blue Jays keep slim playoff hopes alive with 7-2 victory over Rangers
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Photo credit: © Chris Jones-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Sep 20, 2026, 21:30 EDTUpdated: Sep 20, 2026, 21:29 EDT
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At least the Toronto Blue Jays departed Arlington with a victory.
On Sunday afternoon, the Blue Jays played their series finale against the Texas Rangers, defeating the 2023 World Series champions by a score of 7-2, bringing their season record to 77-79. Let’s take a look at what went on in this one.
Brett Bateman drew a lead-off walk to start the game, then was moved to third on a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. single. That brought up Nathan Lukes to the plate, who hit a sacrifice fly to make it 1-0 for the Jays. Unfortunately, they left two runners on.
The Jays extended their lead to 2-0 in the top of the third, as Lukes hit a one-out single and Sean Keys hit a two-out, RBI double. That lead lasted until the bottom of the fourth, as Ezequiel Durán walked and Jake Burger hit a two-run blast to tie the game. Surrendering the home run was Spencer Arighetti.
Thankfully, the tie game didn’t last long, as Bateman drew another lead-off walk. After a single and a line out, Kazuma Okamoto drove in Bateman with an RBI single to give the Jays a 3-2 lead, a lead they didn’t relinquish.
Still a close game heading into the top of the seventh, the Blue Jays exploded for four runs. For the third time in the game, Bateman led-off the inning by getting on base, this time hitting a double. A walk and a single made it 4-2, then Charles McAdoo hit a two-RBI double to make it 6-2. Following McAdoo was Andrés Giménez, who hit an RBI single off former Blue Jay reliever Adam Macko to give the Jays a 7-2 lead.

Takeaways…

The Blue Jays have had far too many bullpen games this season, due in large part to injuries to their starters. It’s a double-edge sword, as their bullpen is running on fumes. That said, their bullpen games have a tendency to go well at least half the time.
Spencer Miles kicked it off, going three scoreless innings with two hits allowed and four strikeouts. Whichever scout recommended to select Miles, who had thrown fewer than 15 professional innings in his career, in the Rule 5 Draft deserves to be in the Hall of Excellence. I wonder if the Jays look to lengthen him out to a full-time starter next season.
Spencer Arrighetti had another tough outing as Blue Jay, allowing a home run and two earned runs in two and one-third innings. The potential is there to be an effective big league starter as he’s already won a Pitcher of the Month this season, but he’s now given up six home runs in seven outings since joining the team.
Mason Fluharty and Paul Sewald each threw one-third of an inning. José Rodríguez threw another scoreless inning, as did Tyler Rogers and Louis Varland. Rogers and Varland haven’t pitched for a while, so it makes sense they pitched in a low-leverage situation in this game.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that Brett Bateman is going to be the team’s full-time centre fielder and lead-off hitter moving forward. He went 1-3 with two walks, scoring three of the Blue Jays’ seven runs. The scout that recommended the Jays trade for Bateman should join whichever scout recommended the Jays to select Miles.
Nathan Lukes went 2-3 with two RBI and two runs scored. Charles McAdoo also drove in two runs, even though he came in as a pinch starter for Josh Smith. In fact, Smith was the lone starter in this game who didn’t have a hit, as Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Myles Straw, Kazuma Okamoto, Andrés Giménez, Brandon Valenzuela, and Ernie Clement all had a hit.
When the Blue Jays found success in August, McAdoo played a part in that. Called up on August 10th, McAdoo had 54 plate appearances from his call up to the end of the month (22 days), with the Jays going 12-7 in that stretch. Through 20 games this month, he’s only received 16 plate appearances, and the Jays are 9-9 so far this month.
He and Keys should get more playing time over these final six games, especially with the Jays’ playoff hopes all but diminished. Helping Keys’ case for more playing time was the departure of Guerrero Jr. The Blue Jays’ first baseman departed with lower back tightness and could be available in Monday’s series opener against the Baltimore Orioles.
As for those diminishing playoff odds, while the Jays managed to win, so did the Cleveland Guardians and Chicago White Sox. They end the night three games out of the final wild card spot with six games to play. Since the White Sox own the tiebreaker, they’re essentially four games out of a playoff spot.
It’d take nothing short of a miracle for the Blue Jays to make the playoffs at this point. Their magic number of elimination is now three, meaning if the White Sox win three or the Blue Jays lose three, the season is over. Even if they win out, they’d require the White Sox to go 2-4 at best against the Kansas City Royals and Colorado Rockies. I’m not holding my breath.
They’ll head to Maryland to take on the Orioles on Monday. The game has a 6:35 PM ET start time and Trey Yesavage is set to make his return, his first start since early August.
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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