The Toronto Blue Jays return home for the biggest homestand of their season, sitting 3.5 games behind the final American League wild card spot after taking two of three from Philadelphia to close out their road trip.
Toronto opens a four-game series against Boston, the hottest team in baseball since July 1st, riding an 8-2 mark over its last 10 games and sitting at 64-53.
The Red Sox begin a stretch of 13 straight division games after this series, while Toronto follows this homestand with the Yankees before a six-game road trip against Tampa Bay and New York.
This 13-game stretch will likely determine Toronto's postseason fate one way or another.
John Schneider delivered a real message to his team after a 7-6, 12-inning loss to Philadelphia on Sunday, ahead of this season-defining run.
"There's nothing better than that, when you're getting into the dog days of August and down the stretch, there's nothing better than meaningful baseball," Schneider said, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. "If we can have the mentality, the intensity and the cohesiveness, everyone doing their part, I'll take my chances with these guys."
Why the math still makes this an uphill climb
Toronto went 4-3 on its seven-game road trip, a pace that won't be enough to jump six teams for the final postseason spot if it continues the rest of the season.
Catching Boston at this point is essentially a fantasy, and even climbing past six teams for a wild card spot feels like a stretch given how the standings currently sit.
Nine months removed from being 90 feet away from winning last year's World Series in Game 7, Toronto entered this season hoping to rewrite that ending, and instead finds itself trending toward watching October from home.
It's a bit like needing a historic hot streak just to have a puncher's chance, the kind of stretch where anything less than immediate, sustained winning closes the door for good.
If Boston somehow cools off with a stretch as unlikely as a 15-game losing skid, anything becomes possible for Toronto. Otherwise, this homestand may be the last real chance this season offers.
Does Toronto have any realistic shot at making up this ground, or is this homestand more about playing out the string with pride than an actual postseason push?
Do you think the Blue Jays can still make the playoffs after this stretch begins?
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