Blue Jays’ AL wild-card tiebreakers, schedules: Toronto chasing Cleveland again with 9 games left - Toronto Star

The Chicago White Sox won to push the Guardians back into the final wild card as the jockeying for position continues.

Blue Jays ace Dylan Cease will start Friday night against the Texas Rangers in a must-win series for Toronto. 

The sands keep shifting in the race for the final playoff spot in the American League.

With the Chicago White Sox’ 3-1 win over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday, the Sox moved back into first place in the AL Central, tied with Cleveland. But Chicago holds the tiebreaker, so the Blue Jays and company are once again chasing the Guardians, who fall back into the third wild card.

Cleveland, like the Jays and Baltimore, were idle Thursday, with the White Sox and Texas Rangers the only teams in the race in action.

Texas could have moved into first place in the AL West with a win and a Houston loss to Kansas City, but the Astros did not comply, beating the Royals 6-2 on the strength of five home runs, including Yordan Alvarez’s 40th and Daulton Varsho’s 12th. Boston later came from behind to beat Texas 4-3.

The Jays’ destiny is not in their hands after a rough stretch in September.