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Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons is congratulated by Kevin Pillar after their game against the Houston Astros, at the Rogers Centre, in Toronto, on Sept. 26, 2018.Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images

The mechanical roof at Rogers Centre rolled open one last time for the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday afternoon, allowing a blast of fall sunshine to bring some warmth to what otherwise has been a long, chilling season.

And who knows for sure what the long-range forecast for this outfit just might be?

The Blue Jays concluded the home portion of their 2018 Major League Baseball regular season schedule with a game against the defending World Series champion Houston Astros.

After the American League club confirmed the worst-kept secret before the game that John Gibbons would not return as manager for the great 2019 rebuild, the Blue Jays went out and handed the Astros (100-58) a 3-1 setback.

With the victory, the Blue Jays (72-87) will now play a three-game set against the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, Fla., where Toronto’s season will unceremoniously close on Sunday.

Wednesday’s win at least guarantees that Gibbons will conclude his managerial tenure in Toronto with a winning record, his over all mark with just three to go now 792-787.

And the beloved manager was given his due by the hometown crowd, who stood and cheered his praises at every opportunity.

“I’ve been here a long time,” Gibbons said afterward. “I’ve had some great times and I’ve had some tough times. It’s kind of sad, in a way, but it brought back a lot of good memories.

“I never cry, I’m not going to cry. I might nip my cheek a little bit.”

Every time Gibbons went to the field to make a pitching change, he received a rousing standing ovation from the patrons.

In the top of the fourth inning, Gibbons was on the mound with the other infielders waiting for Joe Biagini to arrive from the bullpen.

Among the group was Jon Berti, who was making his MLB debut for Toronto at second base and obviously on cloud nine.

Knowing the stadium camera was trained on the outgoing manager, Gibbons suddenly threw an arm around the shoulders of Berti for an arena selfie that was projected on the giant television screen for everybody to see.

Later in the game, Berti would celebrate by knocking out his first MLB hit, a moment that Gibbons said meant more to him than anything else that was transpiring.

The Blue Jays began the day mired in fourth place in the AL East, a whopping 35.5 games behind the front-running Boston Red Sox. That’s just a hair better than the 36 games the 1980 club finished back of first place, the last time the gap has been so large.

Toronto’s longest winning streak this year was just five games.

It is no wonder interest in the team has waned. Heading into Wednesday’s contest, attendance for home games at Rogers Centre had dropped by more than 10,600 a game to an average of just less than 29,000, the largest dip among MLB teams this season.

Wednesday’s attendance was announced at slightly more than 22,800.

Still, if you enjoy your baseball rooting for a team loaded with youthful exuberance, the Blue Jays, with all their September minor-league call-ups, have plenty of that.

Rookie starter Sean Reid-Foley, who knew his outing was going to be short and sweet out of concern for his over all workload this season, looked very impressive for Toronto over 3.1 innings.

He allowed just one run off one hit while striking out five, including four in a row at one point.

Left fielder Billy McKinney, who moved to Toronto from the New York Yankees as part of the J.A. Happ trade, made a terrific running catch in the fifth.

Randal Grichuk, who has salvaged a crummy start to the season with a solid second half, crunched his 25th home run of the season in the first inning, a two-run shot.

Reese McGuire, who started at catcher, then collected his first MLB home run with a solo effort in the fifth that brought the score to 3-1.

And in the end, despite the Blue Jays' season-long struggles, the fans stood in unison for the start of the ninth inning to watch Ken Giles record a one, two, three-out save.

Gibbons was handed the game ball by Giles as the on-field celebrations were winding down and was then doused with Gatorade by centre fielder Kevin Pillar during an on-field television interview.

Not too many managers who have just lost their job are afforded that sort of treatment.

“I’ve never sat in his seat, I’ve never walked a mile in his shoes,” Pillar said about Gibbons. “But coaches in all sports usually take blame for losses and they give their players credit for wins.

“It was kind of nice to be able to have him front and centre for once.”

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