Blue Jays' Addison Barger and Davis Schneider celebrate on Saturday. Toronto won against Tampa Bay, 5-1.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
After 161 games, the winner of the American League East Division remains undecided.
The Blue Jays and the Yankees each won on Saturday, which means a champion won’t be declared until after Sunday’s final day of the regular season.
Both have identical 93-68 records but Toronto owns a tiebreaker by virtue of having a better record against New York during the 2025 campaign.
Lifted by a two-run double in the second inning by Ernie Clement, the Blue Jays upended Tampa Bay 5-1 at Rogers Centre. Earlier, the Yankees drubbed the Baltimore Orioles 6-1 in the Bronx.
If Toronto beats the Rays in Sunday’s finale it will win the division – and a first-round bye in next week’s playoffs – for the first time since 2015.
Yesterday: Blue Jays keep top division spot after 4-2 victory over Rays
If the Blue Jays lose and the Yankees win, Toronto will play at home against the Boston Red Sox in a best-of-three wildcard series that begins on Tuesday.
“There is a lot of excitement, but you have to focus on the task at hand,” Toronto manager John Schneider said.
Saturday’s contest featured a gutty performance by rookie pitcher Trey Yesavage, timely hitting and a spectacular defensive play in right field by Nathan Lukes.
Yesavage, who climbed up four levels in the minor leagues to reach the majors this season, yielded five hits, walked two and struck out five in as many innings.
He worked his way out of jams in the first and third, each time by striking out Jonathan Aranda. The latter occurred with the bases loaded.
Jays pitcher Trey Yesavage struck out five in as many innings on Saturday.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
“It was really impressive for a 22-year-old who began the year in [Class-A] Dunedin,” Schneider said. “It’s really fun to watch him and I’m really happy for him. I think he can win and he did that today.”
Toronto’s first-round draft pick in 2024, Yesavage struck out nine Tampa Bay batters in five innings in his debut just 12 days ago.
One wondered however if him starting the next-to-last game of the season with the division championship on the line might be too big of a moment too soon.
It turned out that it wasn’t. He ended up with the first win of his big-league career.
“It shows the trust the organization has in me,” Yesavage said. “I’m grateful.”
“It was special,” Yesavage said. “If I could do it again tomorrow I would.”
It was his first home start after two on the road. Before Saturday, the biggest audience he had ever pitched before was about 8,000 at an NCAA regional tournament. This time, more than 42,000 spectators jammed Rogers Centre.
“I was fired up to play in front of the crowd,” Yesavage said. “The buzz and the excitement was amazing. When I ran out to the mound in the first inning I wanted to look around and take it all in.”
Once Yesavage was removed, relievers Yariel Rodriguez, Justin Bruihl, Tommy Nance and Seranthony Dominguez closed it out. The lone blemish was a home run that Rodriguez allowed by Aranda to lead off the sixth inning.
Toronto jumped on top 3-0 in the second when Ernie Clement delivered a two-out, two-run double and came home on a single to right by Andres Giminez. Clement went 2-for-3 and also stole a base.
He scored for a second time on a single in the fifth inning by Nathan Lukes. The latter made a spectacular play in the top half of the fifth when he threw out Tampa Bay’s speedy Chandler Simpson from right field to complete a double play.
Simpson tried to advance on a sacrifice fly but Lukes made a long throw that was caught in the air by third baseman Addison Barger, who applied the tag as Simpson slid past the bag.
“That was a huge play,” Schneider said. “It changed the complexion of the game. It was a great throw.”
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Alejandro Kirk rounded out the scoring with a home run to left in the seventh, his 13th of the year.
With the final playoff scenarios still to be determined, Schneider said that ace Kevin Gausman, who pitched against the Red Sox on Tuesday, will start on Sunday.
“If you have a chance to win and get into the division series, you go for it,” Schneider said.
It is crazy to think the division title comes down to this, one final game. The winner is unlikely to have to play until next weekend. The loser gets just one day off.
“That’s baseball,” Clements said. “All 162 games count.”