TORONTO — All of the Blue Jays’ momentum coming into this home series collapsed in a few ugly minutes early Friday night. The 7-4 loss to the Orioles leaves the Blue Jays two games behind the Guardians for the final American League wild card spot, but at this point, they have one more thing to worry about in the Guardians with 14 games left in their season. Here’s what matters most: 1. The American League wild card is getting tough…again. The last 10 days allowed us to focus on the Blue Jays and Guardians as they approached the top of this race, but those days are over. Not only are the Rangers in contention, but the Orioles are holding their own. This time? Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear. The Blue Jays and Orioles have five games remaining between each other, more than a third of Toronto’s remaining games. After this weekend, the Blue Jays travel to Baltimore on September 21-23, their penultimate series of the season. The Orioles haven’t been a powerhouse by any means, but which teams in this race have been? The Blue Jays are also currently tied 4-4 in this season’s series, so they could end up on the wrong end of a tiebreaker. Another factor to keep in mind: The Guardians are just a half-game behind the White Sox in the American League Central Division. The Blue Jays have the tiebreaker advantage over the Guardians, but not the White Sox, so if that divisional lead changes down the stretch, it’s not necessarily good news for Toronto. “Everything is challenging right now, the stakes are high and it’s not going to be easy,” manager John Schneider said. “But it’s about how you handle it, how you do your best and put the guys in a position to succeed. Everyone knows what we’re in for.” 2. The little things: Guerrero expelled in September and October teaches us every year that little things do not exist. …They are all big. In the first inning, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was thrown out on a play by Orioles catcher Samuel Basallo. Guerrero bounced too far from the pocket with the ball high and inside aimed at Alejandro Kirk, but it wasn’t necessary. With George Springer at second base in front of him, playing at just under 100%, they weren’t about to pull off a double steal or force the issue. It was, quite simply, an exit the Blue Jays cannot reveal. “[First-base coach] Mark Budzinski was there, like screaming. He didn’t listen to it,” Schneider said. “It just came out too far. Baserunning plays like that can change the momentum a little bit. It might have been a little different after Kirk walked. He went too far and they made a play.” Later in that inning, the Blue Jays had two men on the line, but only got one chance when Nathan Lukes struck out. If Guerrero hadn’t been ejected, maybe another chance could have changed the direction of this game from the beginning. 3. The Orioles took advantage of Mad Max Immediately after Guerrero’s error and the Blue Jays stranded two runners, the Orioles piled on. You could feel the momentum in the building so clearly as Baltimore he strung together six straight hits to open the second inning and eventually scored five in the frame. After giving up a leadoff home run to Dylan Beavers to lead off the game in the first, Max Scherzer was soon hit hard and gave the Blue Jays five innings to save the bullpen, but there are no positives in the postseason runs. “I’m responsible for my mistakes,” Scherzer said. [Henderson]I felt like I could have made a better pitch. They beat me up for it, but from that moment on I felt like I had executed. He wasn’t leaving pitches in the heart of the plate. That’s where I have to bow to them. They got hits on pitches I threw in places I’m comfortable with. It’s frustrating. That’s baseball, I’m not going to cry about it.” Scherzer will make at least two more starts this regular season, potentially three. He’s basically operating as the No. 3 starter behind Dylan Cease and José Soriano with all these injuries piling up, so there’s no way around this. The Blue Jays need Scherzer, but on Friday night, the O’s were all over him.
