ARLINGTON, Texas -- There was Jose Bautista's emphatic bat flip after his tiebreaking home run in the American League division series clinching game last October, and then Rougned Odor's punch in May that ignited a benches-clearing brawl the last time the Texas Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays played.
Now comes the rematch in another ALDS between teams clearly with some bad blood between them.
"I don't think it's fabricated," Blue Jays outfielder Kevin Pillar said Wednesday.
"We knew it was going to happen," Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus said of facing Toronto again. "That's baseball."
The best-of-five ALDS starts today in Texas, where on May 15 second baseman Odor punched Bautista. The scuffle began after Bautista, on base after getting hit in the ribs by a pitch, made a late and hard slide trying to break up a double play at the end of a contentious series.
"It's unfortunate that it got out of hand last time, but it did, so it's in the past and hopefully stays there," Bautista said. "I'm not looking for revenge, I'm looking to win ball games. That's entirely what my focus is on, and hopefully I get to keep it there."
With all that recent history, close attention will be paid to every inside fastball, hard slide or emotional outburst.
But these are also two teams with much more on the line than retribution after falling short of their World Series goal last year, and now with another chance.
"Games are too important. I wouldn't expect anything," Blue Jays Manager John Gibbons said. "But nobody seems to want to let it go. ... Every time you turn on the TV, it's a replay after replay after replay. But too much at stake. Two great ball clubs, two very competitive ball clubs, two emotional ball clubs. But in no way I would expect anything like that."
After their 5-2 wild-card game victory over Baltimore on Tuesday night when Edwin Encarnacion hit a game-ending three-run home run, the Blue Jays had a brief workout Wednesday at the Rangers' ballpark. It was their first time there since that Sunday afternoon fight more than 4 1/2 months ago.
There could be some edgy moments with the postseason adrenaline flowing.
"I think it's going to bring a lot more excitement to the games," Andrus said. "It's easy right now to say nothing's going to happen or might happen. But when you're out there and playing, and all the emotion any inning can bring, anything can happen."
Major League Baseball disciplined 14 players and staff over the melee in May, with Odor (seven games), Bautista (one game) and Andrus (one game) the only players suspended.
Odor repeatedly said that he was focused on helping his team win the series. He said the Rangers would play like they have all year in winning an AL-high 95 games.
When asked how much what happened in May would be a distraction, Odor responded, "I think that's over already. I don't worry about that."
Asked if that was the best punch he had ever thrown, he said, "I don't worry about that."
Bautista said he has looked forward to being back in Texas, but not for the reasons many people would expect.
"In this situation, yeah," Bautista said of the playoffs. "Other than that, I haven't really given it much thought."
Game 1 matches a pair of All-Star pitchers, with left-hander Cole Hamels (15-5, 3.32) going for the Rangers, and right-hander Marco Estrada (9-9, 3.48) for the Blue Jays. Hamels, the 2008 World Series and National League Championship Series MVP with Philadelphia, didn't face Toronto during the regular season. Estrada started twice against Texas, going six innings for no-decisions in both extra-inning games (1-1).
Sports on 10/06/2016