Hoping to avoid finishing with a losing record for the eighth time in nine years, the visiting Kansas City Royals will face the Athletics on Friday in the opener of the final series of the regular season in West Sacramento,

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Andres Gimenez drove in two runs apiece as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Kansas City Royals 8-5 Sunday and clinched a playoff berth.

Noah Cameron pitched into the seventh inning, Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino hit back-to-back home runs, and the Kansas City Royals beat Toronto 2-1 to prevent the Blue Jays from clinching a playoff spot.

Noah Cameron pitched into the seventh inning, Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino hit back-to-back home runs, and the Kansas City Royals beat Toronto 2-1 to prevent the Blue Jays from clinching a playoff spot.

The Toronto Blue Jays and Kansas City Royals begin a 3-game series Friday at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.

The Toronto Blue Jays will look to get right after an embarrassing 20-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Friday night. Before that 20-run performance, the Royals averaged just 3.8 runs per game. The law of averages suggests KC’s offense should come back down to earth this afternoon with Shane Bieber on the bump.

Despite the great turnout, the Royals fell 8-5 to the Toronto Blue Jays in their home finale. The loss hurt their slim chance of making the postseason and prevented them from closing out their final homestand of the year with a series sweep.

PITCHING PROBABLES: Blue Jays: Trey Yesavage (0-0, 1.80 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, nine strikeouts); Royals: Michael Wacha (9-12, 3.79 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 117 strikeouts)

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Andres Gimenez drove in two runs each Sunday as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Kansas City Royals 8-5 and clinched a playoff berth. Toronto is the first team in the American League to secure a spot in the playoffs,

The Blue Jays are 89-64 on the fast track to home field advantage through the AL postseason with the closest team to them being fellow AL East squad the New York Yankees, who are three games back of Toronto even after the Blue Jays lost two straight and the Yankees won three straight.

The Blue Jays' broadcasters articulate the unique joy for fans across Canada who are following this year's dramatically successful team.

The Toronto Blue Jays’ lead in the American League East has shrunk to just one game over the New York Yankees with five games remaining, due in large part to an ongoing offensive slump.