Bloom: Blue Jays’ time is now with unclear future

NEW YORK — If Blue Jays designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion has his way, he’ll remain with the club this winter when he becomes a free agent rather than sign elsewhere.

“I’d love to stay here, but I don’t know. We’re going to look to see what happens after the season,” Encarnacion told MLB.com on Tuesday night before his club dropped a big 7-6 decision to the hard-charging Yankees. “Yeah, I’d like to stay with Toronto, with the team. But right now I’m not thinking about that.”

Just to punctuate the point, Encarnacion launched a booming home run off Yanks rookie starter Luis Cessa into the left-field second deck at Yankee Stadium with two out and nobody on in the first inning. It was his 37th homer of the season.

He also had a ninth-inning infield single in a 10-pitch at-bat against Yanks closer Dellin Betances that drove in a run, giving Encarnacion 112 RBIs to lead the American League.

Encarnacion is not alone in his future predicament. The Blue Jays have 10 players slated to become free agents after the World Series, including such stalwarts as Jose Bautista, R.A. Dickey, Michael Saunders and Brett Cecil.

Bautista is 35 and Encarnacion is 33. Dickey will be 42 on Oct. 29.

It’s incumbent on the Jays, then, to successfully close out this season, wrap up their second consecutive AL East title, and go as far into the postseason as their bats will carry them. Their window is irrevocably closing.

“Coming into the season, everybody knew there was a chance that a lot of these guys would be gone,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “So that was the focus: ‘Hey, what’s your window going to be like?’ You never know who might return and who might sign elsewhere. I think that’s the way it’s been viewed, not knowing what the future might hold.”

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