The Tigers come into Toronto with just 12 Blue Jay games remaining. The Jays find themselves one game out of the wildcard and with the Guardians playing the White Sox starting today, one of the teams ahead of the Jays has to lose over the next three days. The Tigers are 5.5 games behind which means they probably need to win 11 or 12 of their last 13 games.

SCHEDULE

Monday: Melton vs Soriano

Tuesday: Anderson vs TBD

Wednesday: TBD vs Scherzer

The Jays have a TBD for Tuesday. Last week Soriano saved the bullpen on his start day, if he can do that again the Jays can mix and match their bullpen to get through Tuesdays game. That bullpen game spot will come up again next Monday with Trey Yesavage lined up to pitch in that game.

Troy Melton is a 25 year old in his second season. He has an impressive 2.42 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP. On the other hand Drew Anderson is a 32 year old who is mainly a reliever. But he has become a starter since the trade deadline, perhaps he is the Skubal replacement. His ERA this season is 3.80 but as a starter it is 2.66 and as a reliever it is 4.63.

One of the big questions for the this week is will Vlad's home run free him up to hit like the old Vlad?