Toronto Blue Jays Count On Dickey To Trump Tampa Bay Rays’ Odorizzi In Friday Night Showdown

Toronto Blue Jays’ right-handed pitcher R.A. Dickey will take on Tampa Bay Rays’ right-handed pitcher Jake Odorizzi Friday night (7:07 p.m. ET) at the Rogers Centre, Toronto, opening a home series between the two teams.

Baseball aficionados are looking at the Toronto Blue Jays to determine the direction of the American League East race, with this opportunity to clinch their first post-season spot in 22 years.

According to Yahoo! Sports, Toronto’s R.A. Dickey has a chance to score his first victory in five tries against the Rays this season as the Blue Jays begin their final regular-season home series. Playing the post season has eluded the Blue Jays since they won the second of back-to-back World Series titles in 1993.

Toronto is scheduled to play six of its 10 games versus Tampa Bay as the franchises complete their regular season against each other from October 2 to 4 in Florida. First in the American League Eastern Division with 87-65, Toronto Blue Jays have a three-game lead advantage over New York Yankees with no more head-to-head meetings after the Jays took two of three from the Yankees with a 4-0 win on Wednesday.

According to CBC, a win by the Toronto Blue Jays Friday night and losses by both the Angels and Twins would make them lag behind Toronto by 10 games with nine to play.

Winning the American League East would be the big target for the Toronto Blue Jays, and already they have a three-game advantage over the Yankees. In this equation, the A.L. Eastern division winner plays a best-of-five series, leaving the two wild card teams in a one-game playoff against each other to advance to a best-of-five against the division champion.

CBC gives Toronto an eight-win determinant to clinch the AL East, because any combination of Blue Jays wins and Yankees losses totaling eight will clinch the division for Toronto.

Meanwhile, according to Yahoo! Sports, Tampa Bay is aiming for its first four-game road winning streak in this series after a five-game run in June, its best for the season. Batting his twentieth solo homer, Evan Longoria went 3 for 4 in a three-run sixth inning to give the Rays a 4-2 Thursday win over Boston.

The Toronto Blue Jays distinguished itself with back-to-back World Series championships in 1992 and 1993. They became the first team outside of the United States to clinch the World Series. However, since 1993, the Toronto Blue Jays also holds the record of having the longest playoff drought in Major League Baseball. The Friday night game could very well give them the break they need.

[Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images]