Jays' playoff chase, Nationals' plight among top September storylines - SI.com
A Triple Crown is a long shot, to be sure, particularly given Goldschmidt's deficit in home runs after a prolonged dry spell on Harper’s part (just two home runs in his last 30 games). Can the Blue Jays snap baseball’s longest active playoff drought. Baseball Prospectus gives the Blue Jays a 99. 3% chance of making the playoffs, the best odds of any team in the AL after the Royals, who are 100% locks. Put simply, the Blue Jays are the only one of baseball’s 30 teams that has not made the playoffs since the 1994 strike. In fact, they’re the only team in baseball not to have reached the playoffs this century, with the Mariners , who last made it in 2001, the runner-up in regular-season futility. This could prove to be a transformative season for Toronto, which is already averaging more fans per game than in any season since 1997, ranking 12th in the majors with 31,959 fans per game and drawing 46,000-plus in each of its last eight home... With Mark Shapiro replacing the retiring Paul Beeston as team president and inheriting a star-studded–first-place team, the Blue Jays have risen to the top of a weakened AL East. Source: www.si.com
