KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- They're stuck on the cusp. For four days, the Toronto Blue Jays have sat on the brink of 90 wins. For two nights, they've been hours away from a postseason clinch. On Saturday, the Jays were in complete control of their destiny; a win would've locked up October. They could've yanked the cork off the bottle themselves, with just one victory. Instead, the offence stayed quiet.

After a 2-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals, the Jays remain on the brink of a postseason clinch with a fourth straight loss. It's a milestone that will arrive at some point in the team's final week, but to secure that celebration, the Blue Jays must score. Relentless offensive dominance has been the team's defining feature all season, but not in recent days. It's a habit the Jays must soon refine to pop bottles, secure a division and thrive in October. They must turn the slump into a forgettable blip.

"I'd be lying to you guys if I said the guys weren't kind of feeling it or pressing a little bit," manager John Schneider said before the game. "Not that guys are trying to get out of what they've normally done, but I think that it's a natural thing to do when you are where you are."

The Jays have scored more than two runs just once in their last six contests. They entered Saturday with the lowest team batting average (.169) in the American League and the lowest wRC+ (26) in baseball over the last four days. On Saturday, Toronto added just four hits and one run.

For now, it's a blip -- less than a week of offensive weakness. The best teams in baseball, a group the Jays still find themselves in, all go through these brief stretches. It could become a forgotten rut in just days or hours -- Remember that weird week slump in the middle of September? -- but the Jays must make it just that: a blip.

While the lineup stumble comes shortly after losing Bo Bichette to a knee injury, that loss alone doesn't explain the production. It's a seemingly collective sag for Toronto's offence.

Nine of the team's 12 hitters have an OPS below .600 in the last week. Only Davis Schneider, Joey Loperfido and George Springer have an OPS over .800 in that stretch. The team thrived all season, frustrating opposing pitchers with endless contact, but only three batters are hitting over .240 in the last week. To succeed, they must return to the style that shot them up the offensive leaderboards to begin with.

The last time the Jays went on a road trip to Tampa Bay and the middle of the U.S., they rattled off just six runs across six games. They returned home to score 39 times in the next four contests. The path to a rebound is clear. It's been walked before.

"Our team knows what to do," Springer said. "The guys know how to play the style of game that our team is. And it'll show up."

The Jays can still clinch tomorrow. However, they're at a point at which other losses around the league could secure their October spot for them. They entered Saturday with 100 percent playoff odds, per FanGraphs. The real need for an offensive spark is for what comes after.

Toronto remains in control of the American League East, but the New York Yankees crept up again. After a win on Saturday, the Yankees sit two games back, though the Jays have the tiebreaker, as well, with seven games to play. The added rest from a bye past the wild-card round would give Bichette and Chris Bassitt, who are both on the injured list, a chance to return for the team's first playoff games. It's then that the real battle begins.

In October, four-game slumps end seasons. A three-week hot streak finishes with a parade. Toronto's rattled off more of those hot stretches than cold ruts this year, but it only matters which show up in the coming weeks.

Blue Jays stay stuck on the brink of a playoff clinch as offence remains cold