It doesn't get closer than this.
With just over one week to go in the season, the Toronto Blue Jays are in a battle with four other teams for the third wild-card spot.
But those four other teams have one advantage the Blue Jays do not: A path into the playoffs by winning their division.
Three of those teams were in action on Thursday and the race is still tight after those results.
The Houston Astros (77-76) moved into the AL West lead with a win over the Kansas City Royals. The Texas Rangers (76-77) lost to the Boston Red Sox to miss a chance to pull into a tie with the Astros, although Houston owns the tiebreaker.
In the Central, the Chicago White Sox (78-75) moved ahead of the idle Cleveland Guardians (78-75) for the division lead via a tiebreaker after a win over the Detroit Tigers. The Guardians remain in the third wild-card spot, two games up on the Rangers and Blue Jays.
All of that sets up a huge series as the Blue Jays travel to Arlington for three games against the Rangers this weekend. Here is how the American League standings look ahead of that crucial series.
Cleveland: vs. Athletics, 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet ONE, Sportsnet+
Chicago White Sox: vs. Detroit Tigers, 7:40 p.m., Sportsnet+
Toronto: at Texas, 8:05 p.m., Sportsnet, Sportsnet+
Houston: vs. Atlanta, 8:10 p.m.
Baltimore: vs. Brewers, 7:05 p.m.
RED SOX 4, RANGERS 3
ARLINGTON, Texas — Trevor Story hit a three-run home run off All-Star closer Jacob Latz in the eighth inning, capping a comeback from a three-run deficit as the Boston Red Sox beat Texas 4-3 on Thursday night and dropped the Rangers out of the AL West lead.
Texas (76-77) had won four straight games to gain a share of the lead but dropped one game behind Houston (77-76), which holds the tiebreaker. The Rangers trail by two games for the last AL wild card.
Boston (83-70) has a five-game lead for the top AL wild card and improved to 8-59 when trailing after seven innings. Texas dropped to 63-2 when leading after seven innings.
Latz (3-3) entered after Wilyer Abreu walked starting the eighth and Willson Contreras was hit by a pitch from Jakob Junis.
Latz struck out Adley Rutschman and Story, who is from nearby Irving, reached down for Latz's second straight low curveball and drove the ball over the left-field wall for his fourth home run this season.
Boston’s Wyatt Olds (2-0) got three outs and Garrett Whitlock pitched the ninth for his fourth save in eight chances, getting Jake Burger to ground into a game-ending double play.
Josh Jung hit a first-inning homer off Sonny Gray, and Texas opened a 3-0 lead in the second on Danny Jansen's RBI single and Evan Carter's safety squeeze bunt.
Roman Anthony hit into a run-scoring forceout in the seventh.
Texas’ Cody Bradford followed a one-inning opener with 4 1/3 shutout innings, seeking his first major league since Sept. 18, 2024. He missed last season following elbow surgery.
Gray gave up three hits in 6 1/3 innings, throwing a season-high 102 pitches.
ASTROS 6, ROYALS 2
HOUSTON — Yordan Alvarez hit his 40th home run, one of five Houston long balls, and the Astros beat the Kansas City Royals 6-2 on Thursday night to move back over .500 and open a one-game lead over Texas in AL West.
Jeremy Peña hit a first-inning homer for Houston, and Daulton Varsho, Lamonte Wade Jr. and Taylor Trammell also had solo home runs as the Astros hit a season-high five.
Houston (77-76) moved back into sole possession of the lead when Texas (76-77) wasted an eighth-inning lead in a 4-3 loss to Boston. The Astros hold the tiebreaker.
Peña reached 20 homers for the first time since his rookie season in 2022, connecting on the first pitch from Seth Lugo for his sixth leadoff home run this season. Peña added an RBI single in the sixth.
Varsho homered in the second, and Wade and Alvarez in a three-pitch span in the fifth. Alvarez is one home run behind Tampa Bay's Junior Caminero, the AL leader.
Bryan King (3-5) retired four straight batters. Ethan Pecko entered to start the third and allowed one run and three hits over 5 2/3 innings, retiring 15 of his first 16 batters.
Josh Hader pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, finishing a three-hitter and lowering his ERA to 0.83.
Maikel Garcia hit a first-inning, run-scoring double play grounder for the Royals following a pair of walks and a hit batter.
Lugo (7-9) tied his career high by allowing four homers, all solo shots.
WHITE SOX 3, TIGERS 1
CHICAGO — Munetaka Murakami hit his team-leading 32nd home run and Chicago moved into a tie with idle Cleveland for first place in the AL Central with a win over Detroit.
Bryan Hudson (5-4), the second of four White Sox pitchers, got four outs for the win. Grant Taylor went the final 2 1/3 innings for his ninth save.
Chicago rebounded from a 6-3 loss at Cleveland on Wednesday that knocked them out of a share of first for the first time since July 4. Both the Guardians and White Sox are 78-75.
The White Sox are trying to become the first team in MLB history to make the postseason after losing 100-plus games in each of the previous two seasons.
Gleyber Torres drove in the Tigers’ run in the third inning on a fielder’s choice.
Murakami’s three-run homer, a 423-foot three-run drive to center in the first, was just the Japanese rookie’s third in his last 28 games. He launched the first pitch he saw, a high sinker from Framber Valdez.
Murakami also had a triple and struck out twice and is batting .111 in his last 28 games.
White Sox starter Erick Fedde allowed one run on four hits in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out six, walked two and hit a batter before Hudson relieved.
Valdez (10-11) yielded three runs on three hits in five innings. He struck out eight and walked four.
RAYS 10, ATHLETICS 1
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Drew Rasmussen pitched five scoreless innings and the Tampa Bay Rays opened a five-game AL East lead with a 10-1 win over the Athletics on Thursday that extended their winning streak to six.
Liam Hicks, Chandler Simpson, Richie Palacios and Taylor Walls had two RBIs each for the AL-best Rays (93-59), who are assured of no worse than a wild card and are nearing their first AL East title since 2021. Simpson hit a go-ahead, two-run single in a six-run fourth.
Tampa Bay took three games from the A’s in its 16th series sweep, the most by a team since the 2022 Los Angeles Dodgers had 16. The Rays have 10 games left, including a four-game series next week at the second-place New York Yankees. They have won 10 of 12 and 16 of 23, moving 34 games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2023 season.
Simpson had two hits and raised his batting average to an AL-best .311. He stole two bases, raising his AL-high total to 44.
Rasmussen (15-5) allowed four hits and two walks, stranding runners in scoring position in the third and fifth innings. Tampa Bay has won his last 11 starts, the most for a team behind an AL pitcher coming out of the All-Star break since Minnesota’s Johan Santana had 12 in 2006.
Former Rays pitcher Jeffrey Springs (4-14) gave up six runs and five hits in 3 1/3 innings. He is 1-14 in 24 starts since opening 3-0 in his first four outings.
Athletics outfielder Lawrence Butler had two hits and homered in the sixth off Casey Legumina. A’s reliever Joe Rock became the team’s 60th player this season.
PHILLIES 3, METS 0
NEW YORK — Aaron Nola allowed three hits over seven innings and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Mets 3-0 Thursday night to tie the Chicago Cubs for the top NL wild card in a game interrupted by a scary collision that led to New York first baseman Jared Young being carted off the field.
Young was knocked down when pitcher Nolan McLean struck him on the head with a knee when the two converged for Justin Crawford’s slow grounder in the sixth. Young was motionless on the field after the collision and taken to a hospital. New York manager Andy Green said a CT scan was negative and Young had concussion symptoms.
Nola (7-10) didn't allow a hit until Nick Morabito singled with one out in the sixth. He struck out four and walked three, improving to 4-2 with a 2.07 ERA in his last 10 starts.
Jonathan Bowlan got two outs in the eighth before exiting due to right groin tightness with a 2-2 count on Francisco Lindor. Phillies manager Don Mattingly said Bowlan would be re-evaluated Friday.
Jhoan Duran pitched a one-hit ninth for his 32nd save in 34 chances, finishing the Phillies’ major league-high 19th shutout, the team’s most since 21 in 2011.
Philadelphia is 85-68, the same as the Cubs. The Phillies closed within four games of NL East-leading Atlanta (89-64).
New York has been blanked 15 times, second-most in the major leagues behind Cincinnati’s 17.
Bryce Harper had an RBI single and Luis Arraez and Crawford had sacrifice flies.
McLean (11-10) allowed one run, seven hits and three walks in five innings while striking out five.
DODGERS 8, REDS 2
CINCINNATI — The Los Angeles Dodgers clinched their fifth consecutive NL West division title and 13th in the 14 seasons, sparked by four hits from Kyle Tucker that included a first-inning home run in an 8-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday.
The two-time World Series champions already were assured of their 14th straight postseason appearance, trying the record Atlanta set from 1991 to 2005. Los Angeles (93-60) had clinched no worse than a wild-card berth on Monday.
Los Angeles opened a 9 1/2-game lead over second-place San Diego and has the second-best record in the NL as they try to overtake Milwaukee (95-58) for the top NL seed. The division clinching was the fourth earliest for the Dodgers after Sept. 10 in 2019, Sept. 13 in 2022 and Sept. 16 in 2023.
Tucker fell a triple short of the cycle and had three RBIs, hitting a single and a pair of doubles. He hit his 16th homer, a two-run drive in the first off Brady Singer, who allowed seven runs, nine hits and four walks in 3 1/3 innings.
Freddie Freeman's sacrifice fly and Tucker's RBI double boosted the lead in the second, and the Dodgers opened a 7-0 lead in the fourth on Max Muncy's two-run double and Josue De Paula's RBI single.
Dodger left-hander Justin Wrobleski, making his 22nd start this season and first since Sept. 6, did not allow a baserunner in three innings while striking out three.
Wrobleski and Blake Treinen combined to retire their first 11 batters before Sal Stewart's 32nd homer.
Landon Knack (1-0) allowed four hits over four scoreless innings for his first big league win since May 31 last year.
Miguel Rojas homered off Brandon Williamson in the ninth.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said reliever Edwin Díaz (neck inflammation) finished his minor league injury rehabilitation assignment and will be activated this weekend.
PADRES 9, ROCKIES 2
DENVER — Xander Bogaerts homered and had an RBI triple during a seven-run second inning to help the San Diego Padres beat the reeling Colorado Rockies 9-2 on Thursday.
Bogaerts finished a single shy of the fourth cycle in Padres history. He had two chances but struck out looking in the sixth and swinging to lead off the ninth.
His big game was part of a 15-hit afternoon for the Padres, who took three of four from Colorado. San Diego moved four games ahead of idle Arizona for the last National League wild-card spot.
Michael King (12-9) settled in after giving up a leadoff triple to Jake McCarthy and a run-scoring single to Connor Norby. King went six innings and allowed two runs in his staff-leading 31st start of the season.
Dustin Harris had three singles and drove in three runs to help the Padres win for the 10th time in 11 games. They finished with eight extra-base hits.
Colorado's Tanner Gordon (1-5) allowed 10 hits and seven runs over three innings. His rough outing extended a streak of a Rockies starter failing to notch the win to 20 games.
It was an adventurous second inning for right fielder Zac Veen, who saw back-to-back hits to him turn into triples. He slid to catch Jackson Merrill's looping ball near the line only to have it bounce off him. Bogaerts followed with a sinking liner and Veen trying to make a diving catch. The ball got by him and rolled to the wall.
Colorado needs to go 7-2 the rest of the way to avoid becoming the first team with four straight 100-loss seasons since the 1962-65 New York Mets.
PIRATES 7, BREWERS 4
PITTSBURGH — Konnor Griffin hit a two-run single to key a five-run second inning and Henry Davis tacked on a two-run homer to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates over the NL Central champion Milwaukee Brewers 7-4 on Thursday.
Milwaukee, a major league-best 95-58, leads the Los Angeles Dodgers by two games for the top NL seed and holds the tiebreaker.
Pittsburgh (76-77) is closing in on missing the playoffs for the 11th consecutive season. Since 1992, the Pirates' only postseason appearances were from 2013-15.
Griffin's opposite-field liner to left to put the Pirates ahead 2-1. Oneil Cruz followed with a two-run single and Brandon Lowe was hit by a Kyle Harrison pitch with the bases loaded.
Bo Naylor hit into a run-scoring forceout in the sixth and had a solo homer in the eighth off Luke Weaver that followed Sal Frelick's sacrifice fly.
Davis homered in the eighth against Andy Ashby.
Mason Montgomery got four outs for his 14th save in 16 chances, extending his scoreless innings streak to 21 2/3 innings.
Harrison (10-5) allowed five runs — four earned — in 1 2/3 innings and in his last four outings has given up 24 runs over nine innings.
Khristian Curtis (2-0) gave up one run in 3 1/3 innings.
Brewers center fielder Garrett Mitchell was not in the lineup for a second straight game because of stiffness in the left side of his neck. He doubled as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning.
ANGELS 5, TWINS 4, 10 INNINGS
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Mike Trout hit a tying RBI single in the 10th inning, and Wade Meckler followed with a winning RBI single to give the Los Angeles Angels a 5-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Thursday night.
Minnesota rookie Walker Jenkins hit a two-out, two-run homer in top of the ninth for a 3-3 tie, and the Twins took a 4-3 lead in the 10th on Brooks Lee’s RBI single.
Kody Clemens’ sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third with one out, but Angels left-hander Blake Weiman (1-10) got Josh Bell to pop to second and, after intentionally walking pinch-hitter Ryan Jeffers, struck out Royce Lewis to end the inning.
Automatic runner Jose Siri took third on pinch-hitter Vaughn Grissom’s fly to left to open the bottom of the 10th. Zach Neto walked, Trout singled off Yoendrys Gomez (2-4) for a 4-4 tie, and Meckler singled off left-hander Kody Funderburk for the win.
The Angels were one out away from a 3-1 victory after hard-throwing closer Ben Joyce struck out Emmanuel Rodriguez and Lewis to open the ninth, but Twins catcher Victor Caratini kept the inning alive with a single to center.
Jenkins, who entered Thursday with an .089 average and one homer in 16 big-league games, then drove a 101-mph fastball just beyond the glove of leaping center fielder Siri for a two-run shot that tied it at 3.
Minnesota’s late rally spoiled a superb start by Angels right-hander Walbert Ureña, who allowed four hits, struck out a career-high nine and walked none over seven shutout innings to lower his ERA to 2.74.
Twins starter Taj Bradley allowed three runs and five hits in seven innings, striking out nine and walking one, but the right-hander gave up four of those hits in a three-run first.
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