Josh Donaldson Powers Blue Jays Over Twins, 7-2; Charlie Blackmon Drives Colorado 16-0 Romp

Players of the Day for Saturday, September 16, 2017

American League

Donaldson damages Twins

Despite being eliminated from post-season consideration, Josh Donaldson and the Toronto Blue Jays have played spoiler agains the Minnesota Twins, the current holder of the #2 wild card.

After losing the first game of their four-game series, 4-3, the Jays came back on Friday with a 3-2 victory and Saturday took a 7-2 decision at Minnesota.

Donaldson, who was 1-for-3 with an RBI in the opener, and homered and drove in two in the second game, upped the ante with a pair of solo bombs on Saturday, also singling twice to go 4-for-5 with four runs and two RBI. He has 28 homers and 69 RBI on the year.

The losses for Minnesota have reduced their edge in the wild card race to a mere one game over the Angels, 2-0 winners over Texas Saturday.

The series concludes Sunday at 2:10 pm ET. On Monday, the Twins head to New York for three games with the Yankees, who currently hold a five-game lead as the top wild card.

National League

Blackmon: MVP potential

The Colorado Rockies put on a show Saturday, whacking the Padres 16-0, a subtle reminder to the Arizona Diamondbacks that they are not going to be an easy out in the wild card showdown.

Colorado currently trails Arizona in the wild card by five games and has a 3 1/2 game edge over Milwaukee and 4 1/2 better than St. Louis. If the standing don't change, the single-elimination wild card game would be played in Arizona between the Rockies and Diamondbacks. That appears to be the most likely scenario.

In their rout of San Diego, the Rockies banged out 17 hits, roughing up Padres' starter, Jordan Lyles, for eight hits and seven earned runs over four innings. Charlie Blackmon doubled in a run and scored in the third inning and launched a three run homer - his 35th of the year - in the sixth to lead the assault.

Blackmon should garner quite a few votes for National League MVP. In addition to the outrageous home run numbers (he's a leadoff hitter, after all), Blackmon is carrying a league-leading .333 batting average, has 93 RBI and leads the majors in hits (198) and runs (131).

Colorado has won two straight and eight of their last ten. They'll be looking to sweep the series with the Padres sunday at 3:10 pm ET.