TAMPA — The physical toll of a gruelling, 162-game grind really hits at this point of the season and a team’s place in the standings can be fuel to power through, or a multiplier for the fatigue and stress. “You always feel better when you’re in it, so whatever you feel, you kind of just don’t feel it, because you’re playing meaningful games; you try to put that on the backburner,” is the way Toronto Blue Jays ace Kevin Gausman put it. “Me and Vladdy (Guerrero Jr.) were talking, nobody feels good, but let’s go. That’s kind of what it is right now. Give whatever you’ve got.”

The Blue Jays did that more successfully in the front half than the back half of four dragging, draining days at George M. Steinbrenner Field, where they split a four-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays that was capped

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