The Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers will meet in the American League Division Series for the second year in a row, which means the Rangers are set to reignite their feud with Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista.
“They might have a reason to dislike me,” Bautista said Wednesday, according to the Toronto Star‘s Bruce Arthur. “I think I have a few more reasons to dislike them.”
The 35-year-old delivered the decisive blow that knocked the Rangers out of the playoffs last year, hitting a three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh of the fifth and final game of the series.
Bautista savored his drive with a prodigious bat flip:
The moment continued to irk the Rangers months later. Bautista and Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor were involved in a scuffle May 15. After Texas reliever Matt Bush hit Bautista with a pitch, Bautista retaliated with a hard slide into second, which sparked a brawl:
Bautista said he won’t let his emotions get the better of him during the ALDS, per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet: “I’m not looking for revenge. I’m looking to win ballgames.”
Odor also downplayed the possibility of any simmering tension spilling over into the playoffs, according to Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi:
The second baseman whose punch to Bautista’s jaw triggered a wild brawl between the clubs May 15 described the ALDS with the Blue Jays as “just a series,” and noted “we’re just trying to do our best and try to play how we’ve been playing.”
Lingering bad blood?
“That’s over already, we’re just trying to win this series and win how we play.”
Game 1 is scheduled for Thursday at 4:30 p.m. ET.
Marco Estrada will start for Toronto, while Cole Hamels will take the bump for Texas. The Blue Jays owned a slim edge in their seven regular-season meetings this year, going 4-3.
Whatever happens in the ALDS, it’s unlikely to extinguish the bad blood between the two teams.
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