Rivalry in review: Blue Jays vs. Rangers got heated in 2016

Toronto Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista joins Barry Davis to talk about the performance of the team in their win over the Baltimore Orioles and their upcoming series with the Texas Rangers.

The Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers have forged one of baseball’s most heated rivalries over the past year and we’re about to be treated to more of it in the form of a 2016 ALDS.

It all started in last year’s playoffs, in particular during a wild Game 5 that featured a 53-minute seventh inning with more twists and turns than an Arthur Conan Doyle novel. It even inspired its own TV special called “The Unforgettable Inning.”

The Blue Jays went on to win the game/series and tensions boiled over into 2016. So, as we prepare for the anticipated grudge match, here’s a look at what happened in each Blue Jays vs. Rangers regular season game this season.

Game 1 – May 2 at Rogers Centre
Result: Rangers 2, Blue Jays 1

Rangers rookies Brett Nicholas and Nomar Mazara hit solo home runs while Sam Dyson, the reliever who was the victim of Jose Bautista’s epic bat-flip homer in the 2015 ALDS, avenged himself to help Texas hold on for the victory.

Game 2 – May 3 at Rogers Centre
Result: Blue Jays 3, Rangers 1

This one was a serious Smoak show (boom, nailed it!) as Justin Smoak hit a game-tying solo home run in the ninth inning and walked the Jays off with a two-run opposite field dinger in the 10th.

Game 3 – May 4 at Rogers Centre
Result: Blue Jays 4, Rangers 3

Like a young Poe Dameron, Russell Martin delivered some timely heroics on Star Wars Day. The Blue Jays catcher hit a walk-off RBI single with the based loaded in the ninth inning. Aaron Sanchez gave up three runs in the first two innings but found his groove and kept the Jays in it.

Game 4 – May 5 at Rogers Centre
Result: Blue Jays 12, Rangers 2

This one was over before it really got started. The Jays lit into Derek Holland, putting up five runs in the first and adding six more in the third. The team registered 15 hits in the game with Bautista being the only starter who failed to get a hit for the Jays. Edwin Encarnacion drove in six runs and J.A. Happ went seven innings where he allowed six hits but only one earned run.

Game 5 – May 13 at Globe Life Park in Arlington
Result: Blue Jays 5, Rangers 0

R.A. Dickey was lights out this game. The veteran knuckleballer went eight scoreless innings and allowed just three hits and one walk. Encarnacion and Troy Tulowitzki both homered in the eighth to seal the deal for the Jays.

Game 6 – May 14 at Globe Life Park in Arlington
Result: Rangers 6, Blue Jays 5

Smoak and Tulowitzki went yard in the ninth to send things to extras but Drew Stubbs, who had only been with the Rangers for one week following his release from the Braves, gave the Blue Jays a taste of their own medicine. Stubbs sent a Gavin Floyd pitch over the wall with two strikes and two outs on the board in the 10th for the walk-off win.

Game 7 – May 15 at Globe Life Park in Arlington
Result: Rangers 7, Blue Jays 6

This is the game in which it all popped off — just like Bautista’s helmet and sunglasses. The Blue Jays scored four in the sixth inning but the Rangers retook the lead by scoring four runs of their own in the seventh. Bautista’s bat flip the previous October left a bad taste in the Rangers’ mouths and the slugger was hit by a Matt Bush pitch in the eighth inning. He took out his frustration with an aggressive slide into second base minutes later and chaos ensued courtesy of a Rougned Odor right hand.

The Blue Jays were upset the Rangers waited until late in the final regular season game between the two teams to throw at Bautista.

“To me, it was gutless,” John Gibbons said after the game. “The other 29 teams, they come at you right away, but to wait until the end, it just sort of tells you something. Everybody is going to say, ‘Oh, it was a one-run game. The ball got away.’ That ain’t going to fly.”

When you think of last year’s playoff series and everything else that culminated in the brawl above, the 2016 ALDS should be one to remember.

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