MLB notes: It’s complicated, but Blue Jays finally end playoff drought

Confusion, yes. Champagne, no.

The Toronto Blue Jays ended baseball’s longest playoff drought Friday night without even knowing about it.

Toronto entered play Friday believing it could clinch a wild card by beating the Tampa Bay Rays, and with losses by Minnesota and the Los Angeles Angels.

Not long after the Blue Jays beat the Rays 5-3, Minnesota lost 6-4 at Detroit. But when the Angels defeated Seattle 8-4, it looked as if Toronto would need one more victory Saturday to halt its 22-year postseason absence.

It turned out, however, that because of the remaining schedules of the Rangers, Astros and Angels, the Blue Jays had clinched at least a wild-card spot, no matter what.

The Blue Jays haven’t been to the postseason since winning their second straight World Series in 1993. Seattle, which last went to the playoffs in 2001, now holds the distinction of the team with the longest postseason drought.

Feel good, bad

The feel-good matchup of Tim Hudson and Barry Zito was old news by the end of San Francisco’s 14-10 win at Oakland.

Hardly at their old best of yesteryear when they dominated as part of Oakland’s “Big Three,” Hudson and Zito shared their brief moment to say goodbye to the Bay Area baseball fans in what began as a nostalgic, throwback moment and ended in a slugfest.

Short it was for the starters, with Oakland’s Zito throwing two innings and outlasting Hudson’s 1 1/3 for the Giants, 11 years after they last pitched together in Oakland.

Nats manager in denial

Nationals manager Matt Williams sounded very much like someone living in denial, unwilling to directly address questions about his highly touted club’s elimination from playoff contention.

Williams gritted his teeth, chewed his gum, and said things such as “We’ve got games to play” and “We’ve got to win tomorrow” and “Tonight is a good night for everybody; everybody played well; I want them to enjoy that and we’ll get ready for tomorrow.”

Even if tomorrow doesn’t really mean anything anymore to the 2015 Washington Nationals?

A season that started with so many soaring expectations crashed with a dreary thud in Game 154 of 162 for the Nationals, whose 2-1 victory over Philadelphia on Bryce Harper’s RBI double in the 12th inning Saturday came less than an hour after the Mets also won and clinched the N.L. East title.

Clearing the bases

Cardinals RHP Carlos Martinez has been shut down for the rest of the season and the postseason with a shoulder strain. … Dodgers 1B Adrian Gonzalez was been scratched from Saturday’s starting lineup due to a pinched nerve in his lower back and will sit out Sunday’s game. … INF Juan Uribe might not be available to the Mets early in the playoffs because of an injury involving his chest cartilage.