Toronto Blue Jays set to face Mariners in wild-card round of post-season
The Toronto Blue Jays' first foe in the playoffs is now official.
Toronto is slated to take on the Seattle Mariners in the American League wild-card round. The series will lead off Friday at Rogers Centre.
The Seattle Mariners defeated the Detroit Tigers 7-6 in 10 innings, and stamped their trip to Toronto when the Boston Red Sox tripped the Tampa Bay Rays 6-0 in a game called after five innings because of rain.
Having clinched the top spot in the wild card, the Blue Jays will have home-field advantage against one of the two teams they had been battling against late in the regular season for the edge.
It is just the second time in six seasons Toronto has made the playoffs. The team's last appearance in the post-season was in 2020 where it got swept in the wild-card round by the Tampa Bay Rays, who will enter these playoffs as the third wild-card seed.
The last time the Blue Jays made it to "October baseball" before then was in 2016 when the team made it to the AL Championship Series for the second consecutive season.
Toronto clinched a playoff spot Sept. 30 after the Baltimore Orioles dropped a 5-3 decision to the Boston Red Sox. The Blue Jays then took hold of the No. 1 wild card spot on Monday with a 5-1 win over the Orioles paired with Seattle's 4-3 loss to the Detroit Tigers.
Toronto is 2-5 in its season series against the Mariners. The two sides had matched up in two separate series' with the Blue Jays taking the first one 2-1 at home in May, then dropping all four in the second series at Seattle in July.
The team is heading into the post-season with a head of steam. After dropping two of its final three games against the New York Yankees last week, Toronto has now won four straight with two games remaining.
The Blue Jays close the season on the road with a doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 4, 2022.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.