TAMPA BAY, Fla. -- The clinch must wait. The Toronto Blue Jays dropped the final two contests against the Tampa Bay Rays to delay a potential postseason clinch until a three-game set in Kansas City, at the earliest.

After a six-game win streak, the Jays managed just one run and eight hits across the series' final two games in Tampa, falling 4-0 on Thursday. Still, Toronto's postseason position is near certain and a division title appears likely. The Blue Jays have nine games to turn those hypotheticals into reality and pop some champagne.

Here are three takeaways from the Jays' series in Tampa Bay, including Trey Yesavage's early edge, insight into home-field advantage and key injury updates:

Rays infielder Tristan Gray jumped on Trey Yesavage's first pitch in Monday's fifth inning. He saw a splitter hanging at the top of the zone. The ball traveled just 328 feet in the air for a lazy flyout. Gray was confused. Only when he returned to the dugout, he found out it was Yesavage's slider, not a splitter.

"If I can't even figure out what I hit," Gray said. "I mean, that's how you know it's a little bit deceptive."

Deception is Yesavage's top trait. His fastball sits a touch below league average velocity and, for now, he throws just three pitches. But with the highest average release point in baseball, dragging his arm far above his head on every pitch, the righty's offerings are entirely unique. The splitter tumbles down from his hand, hanging seven feet in the air. The slider often breaks arm side -- the opposite of the pitch's usual movement.

As Yesavage plowed through Tampa Bay's lineup for the first time, allowing two hits and walking one batter, Rays hitters murmured in the dugout.

"A few of us," Gray said. "We're like 'All right, now we've seen it.' That's the kind of guy we need to see at least one time to have a better idea."

With Yesavage's rare release point and unexpected movement, he'll own a distinct advantage in initial meetings against opposing players and teams. Eventually, the league will build comfort and perhaps force an adjustment from the right-hander. But that may not come this year, with limited looks for big league batters. It could make him an October secret weapon.

"I think there is some real value to his delivery," manager John Schneider said. "And it being a little bit unfamiliar to people."

Yesavage's next start will come Sunday against the Royals. The timing will ensure he'll miss the following series against the Boston Red Sox, with a potential final outing coming against the Rays again at home. That would send Yesavage to October without facing any of Toronto's likely playoff opponents. Essentially, every batter Yesavage could meet in the postseason would feel the same first-look struggles Gray and the Rays experienced in his debut.

The Jays have the best home record in the American League (50-25), and it isn't even close. Their win pace at Rogers Centre, 108, is 27 wins higher than on the road. The home crowd is an undoubted benefit -- "you feel that," Kevin Gausman said. "It's crazy how comfortable we are." But their home edge runs much deeper, and could be a postseason key.

Obvious comforts exist at all home parks. There's a reason 21 of 30 clubs entered Thursday with winning records at home. Davis Schneider finds the road chirps in left field amusing -- "you suck," "you're short as s -- ," "go back to Triple A" -- but they're non-existent at home. There's a familiarity with the Rogers Centre's hitting environment, too. Schneider and Myles Straw claimed Toronto's batter's eye was the best in baseball.

But these days, home parks offer more. Rogers Centre houses resources that Toronto can't put on a plane and drag across the continent. There's the full weight room, hot tubs and training room. But, most important for hitters, is a Trajekt pitching machine -- a modern pitch-simulating robot that, with a video simulation, mimics release points and ball trajectories for every hurler. Not every squad owns the equipment, but most now do.

"I use it every single day," Schneider said. "You can just see the pitch shapes of the pitcher. It makes a difference."

The Jays, like most other teams, have a substitute called IPitch that can travel on the road. It's a more traditional pitching machine that can program in spin rates, pitch speeds and sequences. But it doesn't have the video display and customizable arm slots that make Trajekt so useful. It's not the same, Schneider said. Overall, teams post a .731 OPS at home and a .711 mark on the road this year. Toronto's splits are starker, entering Thursday with a .791 home OPS and .743 on the road.

The Jays' pitchers, Chris Bassitt said, also benefit from an accrued knowledge of the Rogers Centre's effect on different pitches. Bassitt declined to elaborate on the specific arsenal impacts -- understandable, why expose the advantage? -- but it's shared amongst the pitching staff. Ahead of Shane Bieber's Sunday start in Toronto, Bassitt told the righty how his different pitches would change with the wind swooping into the Jays' open dome from a different direction. Bieber threw six innings of one-run ball in a win.

"As dumb as it is," Bassitt said. "The way the wind is going will drastically change how your pitches are moving."

Whatever the cause of Toronto's home-field advantage, the Jays believe it's real. The record supports their claim. By winning the East and finishing with the AL's top record, Toronto would lock up home field in the ALDS and ALCS, starting both series at Rogers Centre. After Thursday's loss, the Jays sit four games up on the Tigers for the AL's top seed. In the next nine games, the Blue Jays can ensure their advantage persists into October.

Bo Bichette (knee sprain) is yet to begin baseball activities. Though the Jays considered keeping Bichette in Florida to work at the player development complex, he'll travel with the team to Kansas City. The first steps for Bichette's return, when cleared to begin, will be throwing and hitting in the cage, Schneider said. Any running and fielding would follow.

Anthony Santander is seven games into a rehab stint after missing more than three months with a shoulder injury. He launched the second homer of his Triple-A assignment on Thursday and first batting right-handed, breaking into a 41-second slow trot around the bases.

"That's encouraging," Schneider said. "For not having that many at-bats or reps right-handed, obviously, hitting the ball like that was good."

Santander is hitting .200 with a .790 OPS in his first 25 at-bats. The Jays are aiming for 30 to 40 at-bats for the 30-year-old, looking at his swing speed, contact quality and swing decisions to inform readiness for a big league return. He's likely to stay in Buffalo through the weekend, Schneider said.

"I think once we get through a couple days in the outfield," Schneider said. "Kind of reassess a little bit. See how he's feeling."

Blue Jays delay clinch after dropping final two games to Rays: 3 takeaways from Tampa Bay