The Tampa Bay Rays and the Toronto Blue Jays close out the season with a three game set starting Friday evening inside Rogers Centre, in Toronto, Canada. They toss out the first pitch at 7:07pm. The Blue Jays routed the New York Yankees, 6-0, on Thursday night. The Blue Jays are a game back of the Rays for the top spot in the AL Wild Card. 

The Rays (97-62) raced out to that historic pace and they did it with their hitting and pitching. They have gotten career years from a ton of players and early on in the season their pitching staff was leading the entire majors in ERA. They went back and forth with the Baltimore Orioles as each team pushed the other especially in the second half of the season and down the stretch. 

They have won two straight and five of eight overall as they enter this series. On offense, they are led by third baseman Isaac Paredes who has cracked 31 home runs to go along with 97 runs batted in and he is hitting .250 on the season. The Rays have a ton of power and they have hit a total of 225 home runs this season. They hit in the clutch and they know how to drive in runs in the clutch. 

They will hand the ball over to Aaron Civale, who has a mark of 2-2 to go along with an ERA of 5.36. He has fanned 66 hitters in just 43.2 innings of work, which is a nice strikeout to inning ratio. He has decent stuff and just needs to get ahead of hitters early on. 

The Blue Jays (88-71) are trying to make a late push and clinch a spot in the postseason. Both teams are 1-2 in the wild card standings so this series is very important for both teams. Actually, it is a critical series to close out the season because one of these teams can find themselves on the outside looking in. Toronto has shown they can win on the road and they have some decent hurlers to back them. 

They have one of the most consistent pitching staffs in all the majors and will lean their arms to punch a ticket into the playoffs. On offense, they are led by several players who have hit 20 or more home runs on the team.

They are led by shortstop Bo Bichette who has homered 20 times this season while driving in 71 runs for the Blue Jays, who have hit 180 home runs as a team.

They will toss out veteran hurler Hyun Jin Ryu, who has compiled a record of 3-3 to go along with an ERA of 3.31. He is a crafty pitcher and has been around for awhile, so the Blue Jays are hoping to get a solid start from him. 

The Blue Jays are 2-3 in their last five games and 3-2 in their last five games against the spread. They are also 39-42 in their road games against the spread. The totals have gone over in three of their last five games and 29 out of their last 77 games at home. The Rays are 3-2 in their last five games and 2-3 in their last five games against the spread. They are also 42-36 in their road games against the spread. The totals have gone over in four of their last five games and the totals have also gone over in 51 of their last 81 games at home.