After the Toronto Blue Jays’ three-game set with the Texas Rangers in Arlington concludes on Thursday, the team will have 35 games remaining in the season and all of them in the Eastern Time Zone.

The Jays’ stretch drive will also feature predominately divisional match-ups. Of the Jays’ final 38 games this season, only 13 will be against non-AL East opponents with 10 of those games upcoming immediately.

If the Jays can weather the storm over the next 42 days, their 22-year playoff drought – the longest in North American pro sports – will come to an end.

BLUE JAYS' REMAINING SCHEDULE GAME # DATE OPPONENT (HOME IN BOLD) 125 August 25 Texas Rangers 126 August 26 Texas Rangers 127 August 27 Texas Rangers 128 August 28 Detroit Tigers 129 August 29 Detroit Tigers 130 August 30 Detroit Tigers 131 August 31 Cleveland Indians 132 September 1 Cleveland Indians 133 September 2 Cleveland Indians 134 September 4 Baltimore Orioles 135 September 5 Baltimore Orioles 136 September 6 Baltimore Orioles 137 September 7 Boston Red Sox 138 September 8 Boston Red Sox 139 September 9 Boston Red Sox 140 September 10 New York Yankees 141 September 11 New York Yankees 142 September 12 New York Yankees 143 September 13 New York Yankees 144 September 15 Atlanta Braves 145 September 16 Atlanta Braves 146 September 17 Atlanta Braves 147 September 18 Boston Red Sox 148 September 19 Boston Red Sox 149 September 20 Boston Red Sox 150 September 21 New York Yankees 151 September 22 New York Yankees 152 September 23 New York Yankees 153 September 25 Tampa Bay Rays 154 September 26 Tampa Bay Rays 155 September 27 Tampa Bay Rays 156 September 28 Baltimore Orioles 157 September 29 Baltimore Orioles 158 September 30 Baltimore Orioles 159 October 1 Baltimore Orioles 160 October 2 Tampa Bay Rays 161 October 3 Tampa Bay Rays 162 October 4 Tampa Bay Rays

The Jays have played their remaining opponents 60 times already this season and are an even .500 (30-30). Those eight teams are a combined 23 games under .500 with a .488 winning percentage.

In the 20 seasons since its implementation, it's taken an average of 93.3 wins to secure an American League wild card berth (The numbers have wildly varied, though. In 2001, the Oakland Athletics were a wild card team with 102 wins, while the Yankees needed only 78 wins in the inaugural wild card season of 1995). If we're to use history as a benchmark, the Jays would need to go 24-14 to reach that 93-win mark.

Through that same 20-year period, an average of 97.2 wins is needed to claim the AL East, meaning that a 28-10 mark the rest of the way would get the Jays to that milestone.

Luckily for the Jays, the parity that is rampant throughout the American League this season dictates that the win totals of both the AL East winner and the AL wild card teams will skew below the average (Interestingly, the year that the Yankees claimed the first AL wild card with a relatively paltry 78 wins, the Red Sox were AL East winners with 86 wins).

According to FanGraphs and their playoff odds that are updated with every game, the Jays' projected win total is 89.7, which would give them the AL East.

Next up for the Jays are the surprising Rangers, the current holders of the second wild card spot. That might not bode well for Jeff Banister's team, though. The Jays have played the then-holder of the second wild card in the past 20 days in the Minnesota Twins and Los Angeles Angels. Over those seven games, the Jays went 7-0 and outscored their opponents 62-22.

Of course, the Jays aren't playing in a vacuum.

The Yankees will much to say when it comes to the AL East race and the seven head-to-head dates remaining with the Jays (four in New York and three in Toronto) could decide the division winner. The Jays are currently 8-4 this season against the Yankees.

YANKEES' REMAINING SCHEDULE

GAME # DATE OPPONENT (HOME IN BOLD) 124 August 24 Houston Astros 125 August 25 Houston Astros 126 August 26 Houston Astros 127 August 28 Atlanta Braves 128 August 29 Atlanta Braves 129 August 30 Atlanta Braves 130 August 31 Boston Red Sox 131 September 1 Boston Red Sox 132 September 2 Boston Red Sox 133 September 4 Tampa Bay Rays 134 September 5 Tampa Bay Rays 135 September 6 Tampa Bay Rays 136 September 7 Baltimore Orioles 137 September 8 Baltimore Orioles 138 September 9 Baltimore Orioles 139 September 10 Toronto Blue Jays 140 September 11 Toronto Blue Jays 141 September 12 Toronto Blue Jays 142 September 13 Toronto Blue Jays 143 September 14 Tampa Bay Rays 144 September 15 Tampa Bay Rays 145 September 16 Tampa Bay Rays 146 September 18 New York Mets 147 September 19 New York Mets 148 September 20 New York Mets 149 September 21 Toronto Blue Jays 150 September 22 Toronto Blue Jays 151 September 23 Toronto Blue Jays 152 September 24 Chicago White Sox 153 September 25 Chicago White Sox 154 September 26 Chicago White Sox 155 September 27 Chicago White Sox 156 September 28 Boston Red Sox 157 September 29 Boston Red Sox 158 September 30 Boston Red Sox 159 October 1 Boston Red Sox 160 October 2 Baltimore Orioles 161 October 3 Baltimore Orioles 162 October 4 Baltimore Orioles

Joe Girardi's Bronx Bombers have already played seven of their eight remaining opponents this season (they've yet to meet the Braves) and have had success, going 34-26 in those matchups. That octet of teams is currently a combined clip of .502, three games on the good side of .500.

FanGraphs has the Yankees' projected win total at 88.6, which wouldn't be enough to catch the Jays. The two top teams in the AL East have 96.3 and 93.3 per cent chances of reaching the postseason, respectively, according to those same metrics.

The Jays and Yankees next meet again on September 10 in New York City.