{"id":159586,"date":"2025-09-21T16:26:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T16:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/159586\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T16:26:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T16:26:09","slug":"blue-jays-aim-to-end-slump-secure-post-season-spot-vs-royals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/159586\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jays aim to end slump, secure post-season spot vs. Royals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Losers of four straight and having failed to secure a potential post-season berth on consecutive days, the slumping Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> will look to regain their form against the Kansas City Royals on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Toronto is aiming to both avoid a sweep and lock up a playoff spot with a win at Kauffman Stadium.<\/p>\n

Catch the action on Sportsnet or stream on Sportsnet+, with first pitch at 2:10 p.m. ET \/ 11:10 a.m. PT.<\/p>\n

\"WatchWatch Blue Jays vs. Royals on Sportsnet<\/p>\n

The Toronto Blue Jays look to clinch a post-season berth as they wrap up a three-game set against the Kansas City Royals on Sunday. Catch the action on Sportsnet or Sportsnet+, starting at 2:10 p.m. ET \/ 11:10 a.m. PT. <\/p>\n

Broadcast schedule<\/a><\/p>\n

Trey Yesavage<\/a> takes the ball for his second career MLB start after setting a Blue Jays franchise record with nine strikeouts in his debut, also allowing only one run over five innings. The imposing right-hander struck out a staggering 160 batters over 98 minor-league innings as he ascended all four levels in his first professional season. <\/p>\n

Michael Wacha<\/a> will toe the rubber for Kansas City. The right-hander flummoxed the Blue Jays the last time he saw them on Aug. 1, allowing only one run over eight innings. <\/p>\n

The 34-year-old owns a 3.79 ERA with 117 strikeouts and 41 walks over 161.2 innings this season. <\/p>\n

Toronto has also struggled against the Royals in this series, scoring only one run in each of the first two games and being outscored by a margin of 22-2. <\/p>\n

Over the last week, the Blue Jays have scored only 11 runs and have the worst slash line (.163\/.215\/.247) in the majors.<\/p>\n

Daulton Varsho’s solo smash was the lone source of offence in Saturday’s 2-1 loss. The left-handed-hitting slugger now has 19 home runs in 64 games. Only Cal Raleigh and Giancarlo Stanton are averaging more home runs per plate appearance than Varsho this season.<\/p>\n

Yet Toronto will still look to add thump to its lineup, potentially in the form of Anthony Santander, who went 2-for-4 with a single, double and two RBIs while playing left field for the Buffalo Bisons on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Bo Bichette reportedly began to do light hitting and tee work in the batting cage on Saturday. The star shortstop is pursuing a return in October after being ruled out for the remainder of the regular season with a PCL sprain in his left knee. <\/p>\n

Bassitt’s 15-day IL stint will finish on Oct. 3, making him eligible to return for the start of the division series the following day. <\/p>\n

If the Blue Jays clinch, they will have made the post-season in three of the last four seasons. They finished last in the AL East in 2024 and last played in October in a wild-card loss to the Minnesota Twins in 2023. <\/p>\n

But even if they secure a post-season spot, the Blue Jays can’t get comfortable yet, as the AL East division title and a coveted bye to the ALDS will still be up for grabs. <\/p>\n

Heading into Sunday’s action, the Blue Jays are up two games on the second-place New York Yankees, and up four games on the Boston Red Sox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Losers of four straight and having failed to secure a potential post-season berth on consecutive days, the slumping…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-159586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}