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Blue Jays' AL wild-card tiebreakers, schedules: Braydon Fisher to start bullpen game vs. Detroit. Who's next?

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Cite

Wilner, M. (2026, September 15). Blue Jays' AL wild-card tiebreakers, schedules: Braydon Fisher to start bullpen game vs. Detroit. Who's next? Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/sports/blue-jays/blue-jays-al-wild-card-tiebreakers-schedules-toronto-blows-chance-to-move-into-a-tie-for-a-playoff-berth/article_c26e1e85-4fe7-4737-b46b-aa3aef46c0ce.html

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Toronto Star · collected 2026-09-15 · by Mike Wilner

Quick Summary

The Blue Jays lost to the Detroit Tigers on Monday, falling one game behind the Cleveland Guardians for the final AL wild-card spot. With several teams vying for a playoff berth, Braydon Fisher will start Tuesday's bullpen game against Drew Anderson, who has been effective since returning from the Far East but lacks wins. The article details the standings and remaining schedules of key contenders like the Guardians, Rangers, and Orioles, emphasizing each team’s challenges as they enter the final stretch of the season.
Written by AI on 2026-09-15, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

The Blue Jays missed an opportunity to secure a playoff spot on Monday, losing 6-5 to the Detroit Tigers at Rogers Centre. This setback keeps Toronto one game behind the Cleveland Guardians, who also lost their game, maintaining Cleveland's slim lead in the race for the final American League wild card position. The Jays had chances early but surrendered the lead after Detroit scored four runs in the seventh inning. Despite regaining it briefly with Kazuma Okamoto’s three-run homer, Toronto faltered again as a dropped ball by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. allowed the decisive run to score in the ninth inning. Braydon Fisher is set to start Tuesday's game against Detroit in what will be a bullpen day for the Blue Jays, with Michael Lorenzen expected to pitch most of it.

Written for “Blue Jays Wild Card Chase” on 2026-10-31, grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Blue Jays Wild Card Chase
Sports · 2 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Toronto Star
Hedges 3 of 41 claims Outlet record 64/100
“The articles describe different games in the series between Blue Jays and Detroit Tigers; Article A refers to Monday's game, while Article B describes Wednesday's game.”
Toronto Star
Hedges 4 of 23 claims Outlet record 64/100
“While both articles discuss the Blue Jays' playoff chase, they describe different parts of the season and distinct game outcomes.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
26
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 26 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
64/100
Toronto Star's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
2
Sports
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-15 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Toronto Star · 10661 article(s) · 27 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 27 correction(s)
2026-10-26
Correction
2026-10-24
Correction
2026-10-07
Correction
2026-09-24
Correction

Who wrote this

Mike Wilner
20 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Make us a preferred source on Google Save asset to your list 100% Canadian Owned. © Copyright Toronto Star Newspapers Limited 1996 - 2026 The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, 8 Spadina Avenue, 10th Floor, Toronto, ON M5V 0S8 © Copyright Toronto Star Newspapers Limited 1996 - 2026 The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, 8 Spadina Avenue, 10th Floor, Toronto, ON M5V 0S8
🔮 Gold glove selections used to be reputation based, voted on solely by big-league managers who might only see a player six or seven times in a season.
🔮 Guerrero had a slash line of .246/.301/.347 after getting hit by a pitch on May 24, a fastball that he thought broke his elbow at the time, and he dealt with back and knee problems all season.
🔮 With the league championship series set to begin in Milwaukee on Sunday and St. Petersburg, Fla. on Monday, Major League Baseball is working behind the scenes to prepare teams for an off-season shutdown.
🔮 The Blue Jays may have finished their season on a high note, with heartwarming emotional displays from George Springer and Max Scherzer, but the story of 2026 was frustration and disappointment more than anything else.
🔮 Two years ago, when the Blue Jays finished last in the American League East after back-to-back playoff appearances, there was sombre reflection from president Mark Shapiro at his end-of-season post-mortem with the media and a promise that the baseball operations department would improve.
🔮 The Jays would score twice more that inning for a 10-8 win.
🔮 That had a lot to do with the fact that the other teams in the race were all so horribly mediocre, but it provided hope that the sequel to a magical season that went all the way to Game 7 of the World Series might somehow last into October.
🔮 While they overcame all those injuries enough to not only move back into the playoff race, but take charge of it for a heartbeat, a pitching rotation held together with spit and chicken wire — combined with the second-worst offence in the majors — could only take so much.
🔮 Toronto will be in Baltimore for one of only three games on the big-league schedule Monday and will welcome Trey Yesavage back to the starting rotation.
Also by Mike Wilner
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 20 articles by Mike Wilner →

Topics

Guardians Jays Rangers Tigers Toronto

Subjects

Toronto GPE · 7× Mets ORG · 5× Guardians ORG · 4× Jays ORG · 4× Rangers ORG · 4× Blue Jays ORG · 3× Cleveland ORG · 2× Orioles ORG · 2× Red Sox ORG · 2× Tigers ORG · 2×

Narrative

Games left: 11 Home (5): White Sox (2), A’s (3) Away (6): Red Sox (3), Royals (3) Blue Jays (75-76) Games left: 11 Home (5): Tigers (2), Reds (3) Road (6): Rangers (3), Orioles (3) Josh Smith entered Monday leading the Jays in OPS, slugging percentage, walk rate and more.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-15
🔮 Braydon Fisher will serve as the opener for Toronto on Tuesday in a bullpen game in which Michael Lorenzen is expected to get the bulk of the work.

Claims (26 extracted, 0 hedged)

The Blue Jays missed an opportunity to move into a tie for the third and final playoff spot in the American League on Monday, blowing 2-0 and 5-4 leads to the Detroit Tigers to remain one game behind the Cleveland Guardians, who lost for the fourth time in seven games. asserted
who → miss → games
The Guardians remain the only team in the race with a winning record, though barely, as several flawed teams vying for that last post-season berth entered the season’s final fortnight. asserted
teams → remain → fortnight
Braydon Fisher will serve as the opener for Toronto on Tuesday in a bullpen game in which Michael Lorenzen is expected to get the bulk of the work. asserted
Lorenzen → serve → work
The Tigers will counter with right-hander Drew Anderson, who made his return to MLB this season after spending four years pitching in the Far East. asserted
who → counter → East
Anderson has a 2.97 ERA since moving into the starting rotation for good on Aug. 5 but has yet to record a win. asserted
Anderson → have → win
Jays missed a chance to jump back into a wild-card berth with a 6-5 loss to Detroit at Rogers Here’s how the race stacks up after Monday’s games: asserted
race → miss → games
How scary are they (1-10)? 5 Who owns the tiebreaker? asserted
Who → own → tiebreaker
The Guardians had a chance to move into first place in the AL Central on Monday but coughed up six runs in the sixth inning against the Chicago White Sox to drop the opener of a three-game series. asserted
Guardians → have → series
With a runner on first and nobody out, Winkler, Manitoba’s Tristan Peters drew an 18-pitch walk to drive Cleveland starter Gavin Williams out of the game and the Sox pounced on the bullpen. asserted
Sox → draw → bullpen
The series continues Tuesday with the Guardians starting all-star lefty Foster Griffin (15-5) against right-hander Davis Martin, who has allowed one run over his last two starts. asserted
who → continue → starts
Games left: 11 Home (5): White Sox (2), A’s (3) Away (6): Red Sox (3), Royals (3) Blue Jays (75-76) Games left: 11 Home (5): Tigers (2), Reds (3) Road (6): Rangers (3), Orioles (3) Josh Smith entered Monday leading the Jays in OPS, slugging percentage, walk rate and more. asserted
Smith → leave → OPS
Who owns the tiebreaker? asserted
Who → own → tiebreaker
Synopsis: The Rangers had Monday off, so they picked up half a game on both the Guardians and Jays by doing nothing at all. asserted
they → have → nothing
They’ll open up a three-game set with the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday before the Jays come to town later in the week. asserted
Jays → open → week
The Rangers had not announced a starter by late Monday night. asserted
Rangers → announce → night
Boston will throw left-hander Patrick Sandoval. asserted
Boston → throw → Sandoval
The Rangers still have their eyes on the AL West lead. asserted
Rangers → have → lead
They sit just one game behind the Houston Astros for top spot in their division. asserted
They → sit → division
The Astros open a home series against the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday. asserted
Astros → open → Tuesday
Games left: 12 Home (9): Red Sox (3), Blue Jays (3), Mets (3) Road (3): Twins (3) Baltimore Orioles (73-78, two games behind Toronto) How scary are they? 3 asserted
they → leave → Toronto
Who owns the tiebreaker? asserted
Who → own → tiebreaker
Toronto leads 4-3 with six games left. asserted
Toronto → lead → games
Synopsis: The Orioles shrugged off their series loss in Toronto by going to New York and sneaking past the Mets 2-1 thanks to an eighth-inning, tie-breaking home run by Gunnar Henderson. asserted
Orioles → shrug → Henderson
They’ll throw Shane Baz (6-15) on Tuesday against the Mets, who were eliminated with the loss. asserted
who → throw → loss
The right-hander gave up five runs over 5 2/3 innings against Cleveland in his last outing, only the second time in 13 starts that he’d allowed more than three earned runs. asserted
he → give → runs
The Mets counter with left-hander Sean Manaea, who has a 7.22 ERA over his last five starts. asserted
who → counter → starts
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