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Friday Night Lights: Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees collide in the Bronx
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With September officially underway, the final push to the MLB playoffs has arrived. And there's perhaps no race set to heat up over the rest of the regular season quite like the battle brewing atop the AL East.
A series with major consequences for the AL East is set to start tonight as the Toronto Blue Jays are in the Bronx for a three-game set against the New York Yankees.
Sitting three games up on the Yankees and 3.5 up on the Red Sox, the Blue Jays are tasked with holding onto their division lead down the stretch with one of the toughest remaining schedules in baseball.
Veteran right-hander Kevin Gausman (3.75 ERA) will take on rookie Cam Schlittler (2.61 ERA in nine starts) in game one later today, followed by a match-up between Luis Gil (3.68 ERA in six starts) and Max Scherzer (4.11 ERA in 13 starts) on Saturday.
The series will wrap up Sunday with Chris Bassitt (4.10 ERA) on the mound opposite southpaw Max Fried (2.98 ERA).
It has been a truly surreal season for Blue Jays outfielder George Springer, especially against the Yankees.
He's slashing an eye-popping .388/.481/.821 with nine home runs and 15 RBIs over 17 games since returning to the leadoff spot.
The Blue Jays' lineup feels different with Springer starting each game as a legitimate threat to hit a ball over the fence.
While the Blue Jays haven't quite been playing at the high level they reached during their red-hot summer, their offence is coming off an impressive series in Cincinnati, where the club came away with its fourth series win out of its last five.
Although the Yankees can't overtake the Blue Jays in the division this weekend, with Toronto already owning the tiebreaker, the stakes haven't been higher for these two teams this season.
So you can bet that after Toronto took six of seven against the Yankees in June and July, New York will be looking to turn the tables in their final regular-season matchup of the year.
It's a series that could also have big implications for the Red Sox, who will be in Arizona facing the Diamondbacks this weekend and could gain ground in the standings if they manage to pull off a sweep while their two divisional opponents split the series.
| POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 5 | 140 ANSWERS Friday Night Lights: Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees collide in the Bronx Who do you think will win this series between the Blue Jays and Yankees? | ||
| Toronto Blue Jays | 113 | 80.7 % |
| New York Yankees | 27 | 19.3 % |
| List of polls | ||