Blue Jays-Yankees AL East race intensifies in final weekend

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It’s like a playoff series without being a playoff series.

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A weekend showdown between the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays is about to begin, even if it’s taking place in two separate cities with two different opponents.

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With identical 91-68 records heading into games 160 through 162, the division rivals are locked in a battle to decide the AL East title and all the good that comes with it.

We’ll leave it to Yankees manager Aaron Boone to put it in perspective what shapes up as a wild final series for both teams.

“I’ll take the bye all day long,” Boone told reporters in New York on Thursday. “It’s winning a series, essentially, without having to play one.”

Yes, whoever ends up on top when the last outs are recorded early Sunday evening skips the pesky and precarious wild-card round and moves on to a divisional series. It’s high-stakes, playoff-preview-type action on both fronts.

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With that, our weekend primer on six regular-season games that feel much larger than that.

WHAT’S AT STAKE?

As noted, the winner of the AL East avoids the best-of-three wild-card round, which will begin in either New York or Toronto on Tuesday. Wild card has meant doom for the Jays, who have exited in spectacular fashion in each of their three previous experiences as participants.

The randomness of a short series comes into play and, especially in the case of the Jays, a short-staffed pitching rotation and a team that has wearied down the stretch could exacerbate that factor.

The added rest would benefit either team, but especially the Jays.

Worth noting, of course, is that should the teams remain tied after Sunday, the Jays would get the division title based on their 8-5 regular-season record against the Yanks.

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In all likelihood, the winner of this race will lock up the top seed in the AL, securing not only the bye, but home-field advantage throughout the ALCS.

WHO’S HOT?

Unquestionably that would be the Yankees right now, a team that has trimmed five games off of the Jays lead in the AL East since Sept. 17 and has won eight of their past nine heading into Friday’s action.

The Jays, meanwhile, have shown signs of gasping for the finish line over the past couple of weeks, a trend manager John Schneider hopes will have eased after a 6-1 win over the Red Sox on Thursday.

Prior to that, the Jays had dropped six of their previous seven and had looked lost at times, especially at the plate.

“I think everyone is locked in the way they need to be right now,” Boone said of his squad. “Hopefully we can keep this going.”

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THE MATCHUPS

Both the Jays and the Yankees have divisional opponents, adding to the intrigue of the final weekend.

Yes the Rays (who are in Toronto) and the Orioles (who visit the Bronx) are playing out the string, but both have shown signs of spoiler fight in the late going.

The Jays have a worrisome 3-7 record against the Rays this season while the Yankees are 6-4 against the O’s, including a 3-1 mark when the two teams met last week. An encouraging sign for the Jays: Baltimore will send lefty ace Trevor Rogers to the mound on Friday after a six-inning, one-hit shutout against the Yankees last week in Baltimore.

PITCHING IN

The Jays rotation has had far too many issues of late — think Chris Bassitt and Jose Berrios to the injured list and Max Scherzer’s struggles — something the team hopes will get righted on the weekend.

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With that in mind, Toronto manager John Schneider will send out his best remaining guns. Shane Bieber gets the ball on Friday’s opener followed by rookie sensation Trey Yesavage on Saturday.

The finale assignment is loaded with intrigue. Should the Jays need a win to lock down the division, expect ace Kevin Gausman to get the ball — a risk/reward assignment if there ever was one.

If Gausman gets the win to secure the division, great. If the Jays were to lose and head to the wild card, the veteran righty would not be available for the opener on Tuesday.

AL EAST BRACKETOLOGY

If the season ended today, the Jays would move on to the ALDS, which would begin in Toronto next Saturday.

The Yankees would then host long-time rival Boston for all games in a best-of-three wild-card series with the winner advancing to face the Jays.

As it stands now, that all AL East corner of the MLB playoff bracket is incredibly intriguing.

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