Things are rather exciting in the land of Blue Jays. After handling the Rays and taking two of three from a suddenly limp Oriole team, the Jays are in the top spot for the wildcard, up half a game on Tampa

And to make things extra spicy, New York has fallen to earth, with the Yankees only 5.5 games up.

With the Yankees coming in for a three-game series starting September 26th, and there is an ever-so-slight chance at the division.  An exciting final couple of weeks, delirious even. We should all be tingly.

Of course, this proximity to the top of the division is annoying because the Jays have underperformed all season. What they did over the weekend with Baltimore has been a pattern— dominating the series but unable to sweep.

“This is a little bit of everything,” said interim manager John Schneider to MLB.com. “We’ve got good starting pitching, timely hitting and today, great defense. That’s a good recipe at the right time of year. They’re looking forward and they’re up for these challenges. We’re playing tough teams, but we’re playing really good baseball right now.”

Jordan Romano blowing the save on Sunday was inconvenient more than it was disastrous. Romano had a 0.31 ERA at home this season coming into that game, so this was a rare occurrence.

“He’s been so good the whole year,” said Schneider. “I thought his slider was a little bit flat. I thought they were sitting on it. You have to give them credit for getting a couple of hits and working some walks. There was a really close play 3-2 and I was surprised they ran, given how many people Jordan strikes out, but it worked out for them. You’ve got to tip your cap to some good hitting.”

While the Orioles don’t appear to be there yet, they definitely have enough power in their lineup to make any game tight.

Let’s hope the Romano incident was just a blip.

I went to the Rogers Centre on September 17 for the first time since 2019. July 24, 2019, to be exact, which I believe was the day of Marcus Stroman’s last start as a Blue Jay.

The feeling of the place was the same, yet different. For instance, this talented boy was not yet a Blue Jay the last time I visited.

The pandemic has changed us and I don’t know if we are willing or able yet to understand how. Some of us want to pretend it never happened and some of us are still carrying the pain of it. I don’t know what to say about it other than my anxiety has become my closest friend and I’m sure I’m not alone in that feeling.

Meaningful September baseball is helping ease some of my existential dread. Well, maybe not, but it’s fun to watch.