The thing is, the Toronto offence hasn't just been super hot this past month. The entire year they've led the MLB in RBI's, Runs, Doubles, HR's, etc. they're a consistently strong offence that was obviously made stronger during the Trade Deadline, but they've had the best offence in the league all year. The problem for them before the Trade Deadline was that their pitching was shit. And no matter how good your hitters are, they can't carry you to playoffs alone if your out he's are giving up a ton of runs every game. By improving their defence and pitching staff, they made themselves a well-rounded, strong team all around. A reliable veteran like LaTroy Hawkins, a shutdown set up man like Mark Lowe. Osuna has become quite the closer, something that Toronto hasn't truly had in a long time. He's arguably one of the best rookies this year. Sanchez l, with his return to the bullpen, is back doing what he does best. And then David Price, a true #1 starter, an ace, a guy you know will win you games almost every time he plays. Even previously crap pitchers like Cecil have shown they an actually shut down the other team.

Donaldson is on his way to being the AL MVP. The guy's a fudging baseball God. Tulowitzki can hit, and he's one of the best defensive shortstops in the league. With guys like Bautista and Encarnacion, proven hitters who were struggling, it's only a matter of time before they get back to killing it, and that time is now. Russel Martin, my Canadian boy, one of the best catchers in the league. Ben Revere, hitting champ last year, defensive ace this year, the list goes on.

As they say in the Jays commercials. One nation, one team, have come together. This is 1993 stuff going on this year.

Most of those 1-run losses were because the bullpen was complete crap and blew tight games, which isn't the case now.

I hope the Jays take the division. I've followed them for only about a decade, but in that decade I've seen collapse after collapse before June was over. I think the closest I've ever seen them to taking the division was back in 2006, where they collapsed in maybe August after losing 7 straight. I've never seen them playing this well this late in the season, and I just hope they can maintain at least most of their current momentum for another month. I doubt they'll win the World Series (although that's my dream), but if they could just get into the playoffs and have their younger pitching staff get used to playing under that kind of pressure, it would be great for not only this season but future seasons.

I've learned to never rule out the Yankees, though. They've always found ways to win. At the very least, I wouldn't be surprised if they won the Wild Card game if not the division.

Their pitching is still not that great compared to other play off teams 

Not with Stephen Drew blocking Robert Refsnyder and Chase Headley doing his best early 2000's Chuck Knoblauch impression.

I hope not, mainly because I've been a Jays fan since I've known baseball.

It can go either way honestly, but I do think if the Jays stay healthy they will take it.

They still have 7 games left against the Yankees as well which will pretty much seal the deal for either side I would think.

The 1 run game stat is one of the most useless is baseball, especially in this case. The Jays have the largest or second largest run differential in baseball, but have far from the best record. Losing a lot of 1 run games could imply that they win a lot of blowouts and lose close games, typically win by large margins, lose close games, and lose by decent margins, etc. I put more stock in WAR, which shows how good the Jays are offensively and how bad the Yanks are defensively. These two teams really live on those extremes, and the Yankees pitching flies under the radar (2nd in the AL WITH CC?!). With the fat man on the DL, they are a better team and should have one of the best staffs in baseball (barring injury, which is always a concern for them).

The Jays have shored up their holes with trades and are a great team. One of their biggest advantages is the consistency of their offense (The Yankees offense is slumping now and has slumped a few times this year.). They ALWAYS hit, which very few teams can say. I'll take the Yanks starters, the Jays offense, the Yanks bullpen, and the Jays defense (Headley has looked amazingly terrible this year.). 

Just thought I'd point out that the Jays are now alone in 1st with their 4th consecutive win, and New York getting blown out tonight. As long as this team can stay healthy into the postseason, they're going all the way. There's only two ways this Jays team can make a big improvement. Devon Travis returning this season at second base, which isn't looking likely. And Marcus Stroman returning this season, be it as a starter or reliever, which looks very likely right now. 

Also, how can you like the Yankees? Nobody likes the Yankees. People only jump on the bandwagon because they win, but nobody truly wants them to win. : P

I'm a Yankees fan, so I'm rooting for them, but it'll be a tight race. The games that really matter are the seven they play against each other.

On a side note, I really hate the wild card "playoff" game, since baseball is a game of series and a full season of 162 games. The team making the wild card should be the team with the best record not taking their division. Missing the playoffs should not come down to one stinking game against the team with the second best record to not take their division.

It shold be AT LEAST best 2 out of 3... but IMO they should change the Format best 3 out of 5 then have a 7 game series division series and so fourth...