Yesterday’s Wild Card Race Rundown

There isn’t much for Jays’ news on this off-day, and I don’t want to talk about yesterday’s loss anymore, so let’s take a look at how the other Wild Card contenders did yesterday:

Astros 12 Marlins 5

The Astros hit a bunch of home runs. Alex Bergman, Kyle Tucker and Chas McCormick homered in the first inning, making it 5-0 early and added on from there. Jose Altuve left the game after fouling a pitch off his shin. X-rays are negative. I’d imagine he’ll be day-to-day. The Jays are 3 games back of the Astros for the second playoff spot.

Braves 2 Yankees 0

I don’t think the Yankees are in the Wild Card race anymore, but I wanted to mention that they are 60-61. FanGraphs has them at a 2.4 % chance of making a playoff spot. In this game, Charlie Morton threw 6 innings of shutout ball against them, with 10 strikeouts. The Yankees are 6.5 games back of the Jays.

Mariners 6 Royals 5

The Royal tried. They were down 3-0 before they had their first at-bat. But they tied the game in the sixth. But Teoscar Hernandez hit a sac fly in the eighth, and Julio Rodreguez (who had 4 hits) singled home an insurance run in the ninth. KC got a run back in the ninth, a leadoff Nelson Velazquez home run, but Matt Brash got three straight outs after that. Seattle is 1 games back of the Jays.

Padres 5 Orioles 2

The Padres scored 3 runs in the third on a bunch of singles and 2 in the seventh on a Trent Grisham home run. Blake Snell pitched 6 allowing just 3 hits and 2 runs on a Mountcastle home run. Then the bullpen had 3 shutout innings. The Orioles are at 7.5 games up on the Jays.

Fangraphs still says the Jays have a better chance at a World Series win than the Orioles (4.4% Jays, 4.0% Orioles), which I don’t understand. They have the Jays at a 67.2% chance of making the playoffs and the Orioles at 97.9%.

Rays 6 Giants 1

Our old friend, Ross Stripling, had a bad day, going 6 innings (as the bulk man), giving up 11 hits and 5 earned with 3 home runs (Josh Lowe, Brandon Lowe and Luke Raley). Raley’s home run was an inside the park. The ball took a rather interesting bounce off one of Oracle Park’s angled outfield walls:

The Rays are 5.5 games ahead of the Jays.

This isn’t about any of yesterday’s games, but this would be funny if it didn’t lead to four runs.