TORONTO — The emergence of the Chicago White Sox is one of baseball’s better stories so far this season. Losers of 100 games in each of the last three years, they headed into the all-star break atop the American League Central behind a wave of young talent and a few clever additions, returning to action Friday very much in control of their own fate. 

“Really we just want to make sure that we don't forget the things that got us here,” said manager Will Venable. “Committing to things on the field and in our preparation. Every year has a new set of distractions at different points in the year. The all-star stuff is one that we just went through and now we’ll deal with a new phase with the trade deadline coming up. So, we've got to stay focused on the things that we've been committing to every day.”

The Toronto Blue Jays, on the other hand, resumed play in contention for a post-season berth only by virtue of the American League’s mediocrity, taking the field only 2.5 games behind the final wild-card spot despite sitting six games under .500. They were among the six teams within 3.5 games of the cutoff point, so it’s crowded, but to this point, no team’s been........

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