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While º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøstill controls its own fate — the Jays are up a game on the Yankees in the AL East standings with five left to play and has the tiebreaker over New York — the ride to a division title will be a bumpy one.

The Yankees have by far the more favourable schedule, playing at home against two last-place division teams in the White Sox and Baltimore Orioles.

Meanwhile, the Jays take on the Red Sox with Boston desperately hanging on to a wild-card spot. º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøthen finishes the season with three games at home against the Tampa Bay Rays, who seem to give the Jays trouble no matter the circumstances.

The Jays, however, have had the Red Sox’s number this season, winning seven of 11. And º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøboasts the best home record in the league at 50-26.

The Yankees clinched a playoff berth with their win Tuesday night, joining the Blue Jays who clinched on Sunday.

Magic number

The magic number remains at four. Any combination of º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøwins and New York losses adding up to four would give the Jays the division.

The earliest the Jays can clinch a playoff berth is Thursday night.

How the Jays can clinch

• If the Jays finish the season at 4-1 or better, it doesn’t matter what the Yankees do

• If the Jays go 3-2, and the Yankees go 4-1 or worse

• If the Jays go 2-3, and the Yankees go 3-2 or worse

• If the Jays go 1-4, and the Yankees go 2-3 or worse

• If the Jays go 0-5, and the Yankees go 1-4 or worse

Friday night’s Jays game against the Rays will be exclusively broadcast on the Apple TV+ streaming app, as part of the deal MLB struck to ensure that last Friday’s game (which was a potential playoff clincher) would be simulcast on Sportsnet.

How the Jays can miss out on AL East crown

• If the Jays go 3-2, and the Yankees go 5-0

• If the Jays go 2-3, and the Yankees go 4-1 or better

• If the Jays go 1-4, and the Yankees go 3-2 or better

• If the Jays go 0-5, and the Yankees go 2-3 or better

AL standings snapshot

º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍø(90-67) has a one-game lead over the Yankees (89-68) in the AL East standings.

Among the division leaders, º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøis 2.5 games ahead of Seattle Mariners (87-69) before their late game and five ahead of both the Cleveland Guardians (85-72) and the Detroit Tigers (85-72).

The Jays hold the tiebreaker over the Yankees, Mariners and the Tigers.

The top two division winners skip the wild-card round and head straight to the division series. The team with the best record gains home-field advantage throughout the AL playoffs.

°Õ³ó±ðÌýmiraculous Guardians are tied with the Tigers after beating Detroit 5-2 on Tuesday. Cleveland owns the tiebreaker. The Tigers had a 15.5-game lead in the AL Central on July 6 and the two teams are in the middle of a three-game series.

The Red Sox (86-71) hold the second wild card, while the Astros (84-72) are a half game behind Detroit for the final wild card before the late game.

Blue Jays

Remaining games:Ìý5

Home games:Ìý5 — Red Sox (2), Rays (3)

Yankees

Remaining games:Ìý5

Home games:Ìý5 — White Sox (2), Orioles (3)