Toronto nearly lost in the Wild Card game and just barely hung on for the second wild card spot during the regular season, and now they are headed to the ALCS. Was it that the Rangers were exhausted, or did they just not play well? It was neither of these. Toronto was fueled by the bad blood these two teams have had ever since Bautista’s epic bat flip in 2015 that sent Texas home. It was evident that the Rangers were upset about it because the first time these two teams met after the bat flip there was some big time drama. First Bautista was hit with a 99 mph fastball in the back, and there was a pretty clear intention. Then when Bautista was trying to break up a double play he tried to take out Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor, and Odor took exception. As soon as Bautista got up the two exchanged pleasantries and Odor planted a right hook into Bautista’s jaw. The benches cleared, there were more punches thrown, and more players thrown at before the game was over. So it’s pretty clear in a playoff series, where stakes are the highest, Toronto would use that series of cheap shots as motivation; and that’s exactly what they did. Their offense was absolutely unstoppable. They scored 22 runs in 3 games on their way to the sweep. The series ended with Rougned Odor, ironically enough, making a crucial error that allowed the winning run to score from third.

Now the Boston/Cleveland series. Boston had the edge in this one before the series started. They had a better offense, a better rotation, and arguably just as good of a bullpen. Unfortunately none of this showed during the series. Their starters had below average starts each game, the offense was shut down, and the bullpen couldn’t hold any leads. It was expected that Boston could make a run at the World Series title. It is extremely upsetting that Big Papi went out on this note. He had one of the best farewell season’s ever but at the end of the day the Sox just couldn’t get it done.

Both the Red Sox and the Rangers will be back for revenge next year and it wouldn’t be surprising if they were on the winning end this time.