The Toronto Blue Jays are gearing up for a crucial series against the Cleveland Guardians this week, with some of their top pitchers taking the mound. In the series opener on Tuesday, Spencer Arrighetti will be starting for the Blue Jays, while the Guardians will counter with rookie Gavin Williams. The following day, ace pitcher Dylan Cease is set to face off against Joey Cantillo. The series finale on Thursday will feature Toronto's José Soriano against Tanner Bibee.

Arrighetti has had a challenging start to his tenure with the Blue Jays, recording an 0-2 record and compiling a high 7.36 ERA over 7.1 innings pitched in his initial appearances with the team. On the other hand, Dylan Cease has been performing exceptionally well, recently strengthening his candidacy for the AL Cy Young Award with an impressive outing against the Seattle Mariners, where he allowed only one run over six innings. Soriano also showed promise in his last appearance, allowing three runs while striking out six in a seven-inning performance on Saturday.

The Cleveland Guardians entered this series following a seven-game win streak but have recently faltered, dropping two consecutive games to the surging Kansas City Royals. This setback has opened the door for both the Blue Jays and the Baltimore Orioles to gain some ground in the playoff race. The Orioles continue to close in after their victory over the Oakland Athletics on Saturday, just one game behind the Guardians for the postseason position.

In their pursuit of a playoff spot, the Blue Jays managed to secure a comeback victory against the Mariners, moving them 1.5 games behind Cleveland. As of now, Toronto has a favorable 2-1 record against the Guardians this season, having faced them in a three-game series back in April.

Significantly, as highlighted by Sportsnet's Arden Zwelling, if the Blue Jays can win the series finale against the Mariners on Sunday, they will clinch the season series against Seattle. This outcome is critical because it would grant Toronto a postseason tiebreaker advantage over the Mariners. Conversely, should the Mariners emerge victorious, the season series would stand at 3-3, shifting the tiebreaker consideration to the intradivision records. Currently, Toronto is 23-23 against teams in the AL East with six games remaining, while Seattle holds a record of 20-13 against the AL West with 19 games left to play.