After sweeping their respective division series, the Toronto Blue Jays and Cleveland Indians are set to meet in the ALCS beginning Friday night at Progressive Field.
The regular-season matchups between these two teams provided some highly dramatic moments, from 19-inning marathons to walk-off victories.
As first pitch inches closer, here’s what’s being written about the series south of the border. Spoiler alert: Blue Jays fans continue to travel extremely well.
Cleveland.com – Can Indians’ rotation survive a 7-game series?
The Indians’ rotation is back to normal, or at least whatever “normal” is in mid-October when a team lacks two of its top arms. The Indians figure to lean heavily on their bullpen against a Toronto lineup that can spook even the game’s surest throwers. In the three games against Boston, Tribe relievers totaled 10 1/3 innings.
Cleveland.com – Blue Jays fans snatch up downtown Cleveland hotel rooms in advance of ALCS
Just after the third out in the bottom of the ninth at Boston’s Fenway Park on Monday night, hotel reservations started pouring into Northeast Ohio. By Tuesday morning, Blue Jays fans had snatched up nearly every available hotel room in downtown Cleveland for the start of the American League Championship Series this Friday.
A quick check of hotel availability in Toronto for early next week showed several properties near the Rogers Centre already sold out for Monday; numerous downtown hotels, however, still had availability.
MLB.com – Old front-office pals will square off in ALCS
It is the nature of Shapiro and any executive worth his reserved parking space to let the focus be on the players — the guys who, you know, actually prompt people to plunk down their hard-earned dollars. That’s how it should be.
While it was clear, going into the year, that the Blue Jays had the potential to be really good and the Indians had the potential to be really good, there was no way of knowing they’d find themselves here, staging this October storyline. And again, while it’s the players who play the games, the fact that both clubs got here is, in some measure, a testament to the dudes in the polo shirts.
ESPN – With these Blue Jays, who needs hockey?
After finishing last in 2013 and third in 2014, the Blue Jays won the division last year. This year, after beating Baltimore in the wild-card game and Texas in an AL Division Series, they will be playing for the AL pennant against Cleveland.
They’re also massively popular again, leading the league in attendance with an average of close to 42,000 per game. And that isn’t counting the many fans who filled the stadium in Seattle for a series against the Mariners in September. “It’s almost like a West Coast Canadian holiday,” Michael Saunders said of the Blue Jays crowds in Seattle.