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CHICAGO — To understand the psyche of Chicago Cubs fans is not to be a team historian.

Steve Bartman and the Curse of the Billy Goat are integral events in the long-suffering organization’s history. As are countless postseason disappointments.

But almost universally, fans of the team are not a group that dwells on its heartbreak. Cubs nation is not depressed, like a person in mourning. The World Series-starved fanbase is more giddy, like expecting parents.

The tenor around Wrigleyville, the appropriately named area that is home to Wrigley Field, is somewhat a result of the group of young players president of baseball operations Theo Epstein has brought to the club.

Even in previous years, however, there was an eternal optimism that permeated the neighborhood.

“The Cubs’ greatest thing is Theo and [manager] Joe Maddon,” said Freddy Fagenholz, who has been the general manager of the world famous sports bar Murphy’s Bleachers for the past seven years. “I think they’re going to have these guys ready for the game.

“They’ve been there before, and they haven’t done it. I think this is the best team that they’ve had that I can remember.”

Fagenholz spoke to Bleacher Report as members of the Cubs grounds crew were relaxing inside the bar, which is located at Clark Street and Sheffield Avenue, directly across from the entrance to Wrigley Field’s bleachers.

In his time, Fagenholz has seen more losing than winning. But pressed, he would not waver from his optimism, even though he is well acquainted with the team’s history of futility.

He is aware that on Tuesday, October 14, 2003, Bartman deflected a foul ball in the eighth inning of a potential NLCS-clinching Game 6, preventing right fielder Moises Alou from recording the inning’s second out.

At the time, Chicago led 3-0. What ensued was an eight-run eighth inning that forced a Game 7, which the Cubs lost.

Fagenholz was at Murphy’s Bleachers, as a patron, drinking and watching the game.

See, Wrigley Field is the epicenter of the neighborhood. It tells the story. But the surrounding bars serve to write the team’s prologue and epilogue.

Long before games start, fans pack bars that line Wrigley Field’s bordering streets—Addison, Clark, Sheffield and Waveland. Win or lose, they pile back in and party into the next day’s early hours.

Zach Strauss, whose family owns Sluggers, a bar on Clark Street, a little more than a Hail Mary throw from the Wrigley Field marquee, remembers his venue being packed to the brim for that 2003 NLCS game.

Kegs were tapped, liquor was being poured and eyes were glued to Sluggers’ numerous television screens. By the time the game ended, the place had flatlined.

“People left this place, [and] it was supposed to be a huge celebration, and it was like a 180,” Strauss said. “It was like a funeral.

“Everyone started crying. It was terrible.” 

Because Cubs games have been televised on WGN nationally for decades, the organization is one of the few entities in sports, such as the New York Yankees and Notre Dame football, that transcends geography.

Fans of the team dot the map.

All MLB teams are now on national television, and the MLB.tv package provides access to every game. But people from a previous generation still pass the fandom down to their offspring, almost like religion.

Justin Wollmershauser’s grandfather is from Chicago and was a Cubs fan. Wollmershauser is a Tulsa, Oklahoma, native but caught the bug. So much so that the 23-year-old moved to Chicago and lives above Merkle’s Bar and Grill, another Wrigleyville staple on Clark Street.

He said he made the move for the Cubs, to be there when the team finally wins a World Series.

Wollmershauser moved the same night in 2015 when the Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NL Wild Card Game.

“They had to lift my mattress over fans that were jumping on cars and running up and down the streets just to get me moved in,” he said. “I was pretty excited for what was to come and going into the playoffs, the way the Cubs’ postseason has been, is twice as exciting.”

Robert Schweikher, 23, watched the Bartman game over his railing as a 10-year old in his West Lafayette, Indiana, home because, then 10, he was supposed to be asleep. When his parents found him crying after the game, they explained to him he’d have more heartbreak as a Cubs fan.

Later in his life, they suggested he move to Chicago. They lived there at one time. So Schweikher moved to Wrigleyville.

Today, not many people, the aforementioned proprietors included, blame Bartman. Thirteen years after the incident, it is widely understood he was one of many reaching for that baseball.

Bartman was just the unfortunate one to have touched it. That Alou immediately reacted negatively was no fault of Bartman’s. Nor was the error shortstop Alex Gonzalez made two batters later.

A strange phenomenon among Cubs fans is the group’s ability to get over heartbreak.

Rahsell Gordin is a bartender at Dark Horse on Sheffield Ave. She’s a Boston native and Red Sox fan but has worked at the Wrigleyville bar for the past 12 years. Her first was 2004, when the Red Sox won their first World Series since 1918.

She said she wasn’t made to feel bad about gloating that year, even though it was only a year removed from the ill-fated Bartman game.

Last year, she said grown men left the bar crying after the Cubs were swept out of the NLCS by the New York Mets.

“It’s just been like a roller coaster,” Gordin said. “Everybody has been waiting. Everyone’s hopes are up and up, and everyone is in a great emotional state.”

Good vibes are running rampant around Chicago’s north side. Cubs fans can’t get enough of it. It’s like dessert to someone with a sweet tooth.

Cubs superstar Addison Russell agreed, as he told Bleacher Report’s Zach Rymer he “can definitely see that Chicago is ready for something big to happen here.”

And no one can run away from it. Not even the Chicago Police Department.

The city is so optimistic about the team that the police department already has plans for street closures for potential series-clinching games, according to Al Rothlisberger, who is the general manager of HVAC Pub on Clark—a newer Wrigleyville watering hole.

Rothlisberger said police have already had meetings with the area’s proprietors, asking for their cooperation as it pertains to crowd management inside each establishment. Rothlisberger said he was holding a staff meeting after his interview with Bleacher Report in order to prepare for the playoffs.

But Cubs fans don’t even feel as though they are setting themselves up for disappointment. The group’s optimism lasts in perpetuity. Wollmershauser summed it up best: “If they don’t [win the World Series], I just know that the Cubs are going to be such a good contender for the World Series for years to come. There’s no point in even giving up on the Cubs.

“If not this year, then we learn something new and it’s next year.”

Seth Gruen is a national baseball columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @SethGruen.

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Given the quality of starting pitching in the National League this season, both National League Division Series openers, which will see three of the four teams’ aces on the mound, should be high on excitement.

Don’t expect high-scoring affairs. But do expect every ground ball, relay throw and double play to matter.

Such is the case in playoff baseball, where everything is scrutinized. But while every stat will be dissected heading into these games, can you guess what’s most important to each team’s success?

Begin Slideshow

Clayton Kershaw, David Price and Jon Lester are scheduled to headline a star-studded day of pitching Friday as the two American League Division Series roll on and both National League Division Series get underway after an entertaining first few days of playoff action.

Runs will likely be hard to come by throughout Friday’s action, with Max Scherzer, Corey Kluber and Yu Darvish among the other starting pitchers slated to take the mound. Expect to see plenty of tactics from managers with an eye toward scratching out two or three runs, knowing that could be enough.

Let’s check out the important information for all of the day’s contests. That’s followed by a quick preview and prediction for each game on tap.

Friday’s MLB Playoff Schedule

Game Predictions

Toronto Blue Jays at Texas Rangers

If the Texas Rangers are going to make a World Series run, Darvish must be the X-factor. While he made only 17 starts during the regular season, he finished with a flurry when healthy, giving up just one run with 21 strikeouts over 13 innings in his final two starts.

The 30-year-old is also one of the few pitchers to tame the high-powered Blue Jays offense over the past three years. He’s racked up a microscopic 1.88 ERA with 39 strikeouts in 28.2 innings against Toronto during that span.

That’s not a promising sign for a Blue Jays offense that sputtered down the stretch. The typically reliable lineup generated just 100 runs in September, which ranked 29th in MLB. A major resurgence is necessary to turn Toronto back into contenders.

Prediction: Rangers win, 6-2.

Boston Red Sox at Cleveland Indians

Earlier this year, Peyton Manning capped a Hall of Fame career by winning the Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos. Now, Boston Red Sox star David Ortiz is trying to complete a similar storybook ending after a remarkable final regular season in which he posted 38 homers and 127 RBI.

Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe noted the Red Sox are doing everything possible, including embracing superstitions, to send Big Papi out as a champion:

Although the designated hitter is crucial to the team’s success, the Red Sox also need Price to pitch like an ace during their playoff run. They signed him to a massive contract in the offseason, but he hasn’t lived up to the hype, finishing with a 3.99 ERA in the regular season, the second-highest mark of his career.

Friday’s start is not only important for the series, but it could also say a lot about how dangerous he will be in the playoffs. Shutting down a Cleveland Indians offense that ranked fifth in runs during the regular season would be a major statement.

Prediction: Red Sox win, 3-2.

Los Angeles Dodgers at Washington Nationals

The Washington Nationals are best equipped to challenge the Chicago Cubs in the NL. They ranked second in starters’ ERA during the regular season and scored the fourth-most runs in the NL. Surviving a five-game series in which they likely have to face Kershaw twice won’t be easy, though.

The 28-year-old left-hander made only 21 starts, but he was as dominant as ever when healthy. It’s almost hard to comprehend his 1.69 ERA and 0.72 WHIP, especially in a year with a historically high home run rate.

Washington can still win its series against the Los Angeles Dodgers without beating Kershaw, but the margin for error in that scenario is razor-thin. The Nats will have to hope Scherzer can match him frame for frame long enough to steal at least one of his starts.

Prediction: Dodgers win, 4-1.

San Francisco Giants at Chicago Cubs

This is one of those “if not now, when?” situations for the Cubs. The team, which is attempting to break a World Series drought dating back to 1908, won 103 games during the regular season, eight more than any other club, and accumulated a tremendous plus-252 run differential.

Chicago’s rotation is stacked, its bullpen is reliable and its offense ranked third in runs during the regular season. Despite the seemingly large advantages all over the field, manager Joe Maddon stressed the importance of overcoming adversity, per Patrick Mooney of CSN Chicago.

“You have to be able to maintain your focus,” Maddon said. “When things are going well, it’s easy. We all can do that. I just want to remind them to be able to maintain our focus, maintain our methods, even if something goes awry.”

On the flip side, there’s something about the San Francisco Giants and even-numbered years. They won the World Series in 2010, 2012 and 2014 while missing the playoffs in 2011, 2013 and 2015. There’s no direct correlation, but any mental edge can help at this time of the year.

It’s going to take a special effort to upset the Cubs, though. Chicago has taken a steady approach to rebuilding the organization under president of baseball operations Theo Epstein, and it’s starting to pay off in a massive way.

Prediction: Cubs win, 3-0.

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If the Chicago Cubs have their way, 2016 will be the year they finally end a 108-year World Series championship drought and send the Curse of the Billy Goat the way of the Curse of the Bambino.

Addison Russell aims to do his part. He may not have the biggest name on a star-studded Cubs team fresh off a 103-win regular season, but there’s no question he’s a rising star. The second-year shortstop was an All-Star for the first time in 2016, and his stellar defense and strong offense make him one of the best two-way players still standing.

Russell is partnering with MET-Rx for a campaign based on the pressure to deliver in October. As part of that, he took time Tuesday to talk with Bleacher Report about the trajectory of his career and the mood around Chicago and the Cubs themselves on the eve of the team’s National League Division Series matchup against the San Francisco Giants.

Bleacher Report: I want to start by going back into your personal history. You got your first taste of Wrigley Field in 2010, when you were there for the Under Armour All-America Game. Do you recall what your impressions of the stadium were at the time?

Addison Russell: I remember driving up on the bus and seeing where Clark and Addison met. I was like, “Oh, man, I didn’t know that Wrigley Field was on Addison St.” From there, that was my first impression.

And then you go into the ballfield and you see the ivy, you see the brick wall and these things from when you were a kid, and finally it’s just right there in front of you. And you get to play on the field with athletes from all over. So it was a pretty cool experience.

B/R: So you get traded over from Oakland in 2014. You come up last year. And this year, you had your coming-out party. You were an All-Star. Your offensive numbers improved. You played great defense. Is there any one thing from this season that you’re most proud of, and what was the biggest key for you to accomplish it?

AR: I would say my defense is something that I think improved tremendously. Obviously, I think the offensive side has too, with the slugging numbers. But I would say where I improved most would probably be mentally more than physically.

Just going through the grind of 162 games and waking up and going to sleep at different work hours. It’s just a lot. It’s a lot to cope with. That’s something that I’ll take out of this year and use for next year.

B/R: To play off that, how’s your confidence level going into the postseason this year compared to where you were last October?

AR: My confidence level is pretty high right now. I’ve been getting my reps. I’ve been getting my rest. We have another workout today. The body’s feeling great, so everything’s a go right now. Like I said, mentally, I feel like I’m prepared. I had a little bit of experience of it last year, and I’m just trying to use some of that experience going into our first series coming up. It should help a lot.

B/R: I want to ask you about the mood in Chicago these days. Cubs fans are notoriously fatalistic for reasons that are obvious. But what about now? Are they drinking the Kool-Aid? Is Chicago ready for this drought to end?

AR: I would say just from looking at the fans and conversing with the fans, I know that they’re ready for something big to happen here in Chicago. The fans have been awesome.

I know the team has been working really, really hard to make all this come true and that we’re trying our best and getting better every single day. We’re picking each other up. We’re doing the small things that a team needs to do to end up on top.

So yeah, I can definitely see that Chicago is ready for something big to happen here.

B/R: How about the mood in the clubhouse? You guys are obviously all aware of the history surrounding this franchise and the drought that’s been going on for over a century. But is that discussed at all? Is it bulletin-board material for you guys?

AR: I think the way that we go about it is just trying to get better each day. And over the course of the year, that has been the goal. And I think we’ve just been having some fun, man. We’re having some fun winning.

And at the same time, we’re getting the job done. Mentally, I think we need to stay where we’re at right now. That’s been working out for us this far. I don’t think we should change anything up. It’s been working great this whole year, and we’ve been dominating.

If we just stay that course and just try to get better every single day, I think we’ll have something good to look forward to.

B/R: Playing off that, Joe Maddon is in charge, and he’s been known to set a tone. But with guys such as John Lackey, Jason Heyward and Ben Zobrist coming aboard over the winter and all the young guys having a year of experience after last year, how would you say the character of this year’s team is different from the team that went to the National League Championship last year?

AR: You really get a good swirl and a good mix of veterans, rookies, youth and liveliness. Everything’s live. Everything’s fun. It seems like the veterans mesh really well with some of the younger guys and vice versa.

The younger guys say “What’s up?” to the veterans. They’re not shy at all. Just looking at the team in the clubhouse, the way that we converse and the way we interact with each other is something that I haven’t been a part of ever before.

It’s a pretty cool thing to see young Latins talk to the David Rosses or the Ben Zobrists of baseball and myself talk to [Anthony] Rizzo and KB [Kris Bryant] to where we can relate on certain things. We’re just meshing, man. It’s a perfect swirl, and it’s a perfect mix.

We’re definitely embracing what we have here in Chicago.

B/R: Is there one veteran in particular who’s had an especially big impact on you either personally or with your career?

AR: I would say David Ross and Ben Zobrist have been two of the big league guys who I’ve looked at the most. Just to see how they go about their business. They’ve had a lot of time in the big leagues, and they have a pretty good idea of what they need to do to accomplish whatever they need to accomplish for that year.

That’s really what I look at with those two guys.

B/R: You guys obviously had the best record, by far, in the league this year. But in the last 25 years, history hasn’t been so kind to the team with the best record in baseball. Only a couple of teams (h/t ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark) in the last 25 years with the best record have gone on to win the World Series. From your perspective, why can this Cubs team be an exception to the rule?

AR: I would say because not only are we looking at 100 or so wins, but we’ve got the rest that we need. We have a manager that has been in that playoff-type situation, a manager that has won World Series before*.

We have guys who have won World Series before. We have professionals that just know how to handle this situation and that we’re not afraid to pick the ear of and really tap in and get to know what we need to know and what to expect whenever we go through these situations. That’s something that is different, I feel.

*Joe Maddon only took the Tampa Bay Rays to the World Series in 2008 but had won it six years earlier as the bench coach for the 2002 Anaheim Angels.

B/R: One last question for you: If this does become the team to snap the 108-year drought in Chicago, do you know what the first thing you’re going to do to celebrate is?

AR: I’m probably gonna hang out with my family, kiss my children and, yeah, just pop bottles with my family or something like that.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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From the way it was being billed, the American League Division Series showdown between the Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers sounded less like a baseball affair and more like a prizefight.

If that’s how it is, I’m compelled to say the Blue Jays have scored a first-round knockdown.

There was plenty of energy in Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas, at the outset of Game 1 on Thursday afternoon—rightfully so in light of the still-fresh memory of Rougned Odor punching Jose Bautista, not to mention the roots of said punch in last year’s ALDS showdown. With that backdrop in place, how could anything other than a brutal back-and-forth ensue?

Well, how about a 10-1 drubbing in favor of the invading villains instead?

None other than Bautista provided the exclamation point with a three-run homer in the ninth inning, but the life had been sucked out of the stadium long before that. In fact, the win expectancy chart from FanGraphs makes no secret of where that happened:

That five-run third inning featured an RBI double by Josh Donaldson, an RBI single by Bautista and a groan-inducing, base-clearing triple by Troy Tulowitzki. It took Cole Hamels more than 40 pitches to get through it all, and boy did it feel like it had gone from a 50-50 game to one the Blue Jays had roughly a 90 percent chance of winning.

“We’re baseball players, not UFC fighters,” Bautista told Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet, “And we come here to play ballgames.”

All the Blue Jays needed to hang on was for Marco Estrada not to pull a Hamels and have a meltdown of his own. It wasn’t much of a challenge—granted—but he accepted it all the same.

Estrada did give up the Rangers’ lone run, but it came in the ninth inning after he had already hurled eight dominant frames. In all, he pitched 8.1 innings, struck out six with no walks and allowed only four hits.

As good as that line makes his performance sound, it was somehow even better than that. Case in point: One of the hits Estrada gave up was a soft trickler to first base off the bat of Adrian Beltre that had the characteristics of a batted ball that otherwise goes for a .000 batting average, according to Baseball Savant.

The Rangers needed more lucky hits like that, and Estrada just didn’t allow them. He was locating his fastball and keeping Texas hitters off balance with his ball-on-string changeup. Shi Davidi of Sportsnet would know when Estrada has a good changeup, so we should take his word for it that it was especially good in Game 1:

Estrada isn’t the most impressive name in a Blue Jays rotation that also features 20-game winner J.A. Happ, American League ERA champ Aaron Sanchez and fan favorite Marcus Stroman. But his Game 1 performance is a good reminder of how capable he’s been in his two years with the team. He led the AL in hits per nine innings for a second straight season in 2016, and his ERA only regressed to 3.48 from 3.13 in 2015.

Indeed, the fact that Estrada isn’t the most impressive name in Toronto’s starting rotation is a reminder of how strong the unit is. Blue Jays starters led the American League with a 3.64 ERA, and John Gibbons will tell you they’re ready to keep that up in October.

“If you keep them in line, we feel good about them all,” the Blue Jays manager said before the series began, per Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com. “That’s a big part of our strength is our starting rotation. And we’ve managed the last couple of months to keep them all rested.”

As for Toronto’s offense, what was lost amid the excitement (and confusion over Zach Britton’s absence) of Edwin Encarnacion’s walk-off home run against the Baltimore Orioles in the AL Wild Card Game was that Blue Jays hitters struggled for most of the evening. Right up until Encarnacion took his parrot for a stroll, they still seemed mired in the slump that dragged the team to a 13-16 showing in September and October.

But Thursday? Thursday was more like it.

The presence of Donaldson, Bautista and Encarnacion gives Toronto’s offense the image of a parade of home run hitters. But while they do hit their share of dingers, what Blue Jays hitters really excelled at in 2016 was being tough outs. They saw the most pitches per plate appearance of any team in 2016, a notable departure from their more aggressive style in 2015.

Especially in that big third inning, the Blue Jays looked more like themselves in Game 1. They gave Hamels no quarter, forcing him to throw perfect pitches that he just didn’t have. Facing an offense that can do that is just as demoralizing as facing one that’s a threat for a dinger at any moment.

Of course, it must be said that Hamels is easier prey these days than his reputation suggests. He pitched well for most of 2016 but fell on hard times with a 4.28 ERA in his last 11 starts. Hard contact (37.2 Hard%) became a big problem, an indication that something is up with the Rangers ace.

Still, this is no time to balk about how the Blue Jays walked into Arlington and stole Game 1.

No, sir. They made the Rangers, they of the American League’s best regular-season record, look overmatched. The Blue Jays did it with the same ingredients that made them a good team in their own right for most of 2016. And with Happ set to take the mound opposite Yu Darvish, who had issues of his own at the end of the year, they could well do it again in Game 2 on Friday.

The Blue Jays still need two more wins before we can call the fight in their favor. But with their opponent reeling and them not even sweating, they have to like their chances.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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The Toronto Blue Jays took a 1-0 lead in the 2016 American League Division Series with a 10-1 victory over the Texas Rangers on Thursday in Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas. 

Marco Estrada pitched a gem for the Blue Jays. He stymied the Rangers offense over 8.1 innings, allowing one earned run on four hits and striking out six batters.

Former MLB reliever LaTroy Hawkins thought Estrada’s changeup was particularly effective:

Rangers ace Cole Hamels had one of his worst starts of the 2016 season, going 3.1 innings and allowing seven runs—six earned—on six hits. Hamels’ command was an issue throughout his outing. He walked three batters and threw 82 pitches.

MLB.com’s Richard Justice noted how poor the start was:

Hamels was one out away from getting out of the third inning before the game unraveled for the Rangers.

Josh Donaldson got the Blue Jays on the board with a double to left field. The line drive narrowly evaded Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre, who got a glove on the ball but couldn’t react in time to make the catch. Jose Bautista then doubled Toronto’s lead with a single to center.

A walk to Edwin Encarnacion loaded the bases, and Troy Tulowitzki emptied them with a triple to right-center field to put the Blue Jays ahead 5-0.

Rangers center fielder Ian Desmond has largely exceeded expectations following his transition to the outfield. Tulowitzki’s three-run triple, however, highlighted Desmond’s relative inexperience at the position. As he was tracking the ball, Desmond—bracing for an impact with the outfield wall—pulled up well before he needed to, allowing Tulowitzki’s hit to fall in.

Sports Illustrated‘s Jonah Keri didn’t hold back with his criticism of Desmond:

Vice Sports’ Dave Lozo thought the play would have at least made Roger Dorn of Major League proud:

ESPN.com’s Keith Law was seemingly surprised how quickly the Blue Jays took control of the game:

Melvin Upton Jr. began the top of the fourth with a solo home run to left field to give the Blue Jays a 6-0 lead.

Donaldson then knocked Hamels out of the game after singling home Devon Travis.

Bautista piled further misery on the Rangers with a three-run homer in the top of the ninth, putting Toronto ahead 10-0. According to the Toronto Star‘s Bruce Arthur, the right-handed slugger made sure not to anger any Rangers players with another bat flip:

Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball thought the 35-year-old helped himself with free agency on the horizon:

FanGraphs’ Jeff Sullivan tweeted that Bautista’s home run meant Texas has now allowed more runs than it has scored in 2016.

Dropping the first game is far from a decisive blow to the Rangers in the ALDS. Texas took a 2-0 lead over the Blue Jays in last year’s ALDS before ultimately losing the series.

Still, getting a win in Game 2 will be critical for the Rangers. They won’t want to be in a 2-0 hole when the series shifts to the raucous Rogers Centre. Texas finished only three games over .500 on the road this year.

The good news for the Rangers is that they’ll have their best pitcher on the mound to even the series. Yu Darvish went 7-5 and posted a 3.41 ERA in 17 starts. His 3.09 FIP was lowest among the team’s starters, though, per Baseball-Reference.com.

J.A. Happ will get the nod for Toronto. He went 20-4 with a 3.18 ERA during the regular season. On May 5, the veteran lefty went seven innings and allowed one run in a 12-2 win over the Rangers.

If Happ delivers a similar outing, then Toronto will have one foot in the American League Championship Series for the second year in a row.

Postgame Reaction

Rangers manager Jeff Banister doesn’t think Thursday’s defeat will have a residual impact on his team over the rest of the series, according the Canadian Press’ Neil Davidson (via the Vancouver Sun):

Given how our club has played all year long, and we’ve been in these type of situations before, look, we’ve come back and played well after these type of games. And with the veteran group that we have in there, I don’t worry about the collateral damage in a game like this. Obviously we would have liked to have played a lot more competitively. But the other thing that you’ve got to look at, too, is Estrada threw a heck of a game.

After the game, Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin had high praise for Estrada, saying he has “little hints of [Greg] Maddux” in his game, according to Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.

Estrada wasn’t disappointed that he couldn’t go the full nine innings, per Nicholson-Smith: “Who cares? We won. That’s all that matters.”

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On Monday, the Miami Marlins fired hitting coach Barry Bonds, one of the greatest home run hitters in MLB history.

Later in the day an MLB coach told Kevin Kernan of the New York Post that Marlins manager Don Mattingly would have resigned if Bonds had remained with the team. 

According to SiriusXM’s Craig Mish, Bonds’ “commitment level dwindled” as the season progressed, and Mattingly called him out over the summer. 

However, the writing was on the wall early.

In April, Mattingly, who was in his first season with Miami after spending five years as the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, took a swipe at Bonds’ work ethic, saying he was “a work in progress,” while lauding assistant hitting coach Frank Menechino for making most of the preparations ahead of games, per Ann Killion of the San Francisco Chronicle:

You see Frankie still doing a lot of the prep work. Barry is still getting into the routine of the ugly side of coaching: being here at 1 and studying video, studying on the plane and you don’t get a chance to watch movies, things like that.

It just depends how good you want to be as a coach. If you want to be a really good coach, you’ve got to do the work.

Under Bonds, the Marlins offense was mediocre as the team finished with a 79-82 record, good for third place in the National League East:

However, the Marlins’ difficult ending to the season, with the tragic death of ace Jose Fernandez, made late-September and October baseball irrelevant.

For Bonds, his first job in MLB since his retirement as a player in 2007 ended early, and his reported problems with Mattingly might not make it easy for him to catch on anywhere else.

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FINAL SCORE:  Indians 5, Red Sox 4, Cleveland leads the series, 1-0

The Cleveland Indians belted three home runs in the bottom of the third inning against Red Sox starter Rick Porcello, and defeated the Red Sox in the opener of the American League Division Series.

The Red Sox scored a run in the eighth inning on a Brock Holt home run, and had the tying run at third later that inning and on base again in the ninth but they could not push the tying run home.

Cody Allen struck out Dustin Pedroia on a breaking ball to end the game.

While Allen got the save, the key move of the game came when Cleveland manager Terry Francona took out starter Trevor Bauer and replaced him with left-handed ace Andrew Miller in the fifth inning. Miller shut down the powerful Red Sox for two full innings, and that allowed the Indians to hold the lead and maintain momentum.

Roberto Perez, Jason Kipnis and Francisco Lindor all homered for the Indians, while Andrew Benintendi, Sandy Leon and Brock Holt homered for the Red Sox.

The two teams will meet in Game 2 on Friday afternoon.

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Two thrilling Wild Card Games are in the books, and we’re set to begin the division series, with action kicking off on the American League side as the Texas Rangers host the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Blue Jays advanced to the ALDS with a 5-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles in Tuesday’s AL Wild Card Game. Edwin Encarnacion delivered the big blow with a walk-off, three-run home run in the bottom of the 11th inning.

Meanwhile, the Rangers posted the best record in the AL at 95-67 en route to winning the AL West title by nine games over the Seattle Mariners.

Cole Hamels (15-5, 3.32 ERA, 200 K) gets the Game 1 start for the Rangers, while the Blue Jays made the somewhat surprising decision to go with Marco Estrada (9-9, 3.48 ERA, 165 K) out of the gate.

Who will come out on top in Game 1 of this exciting ALDS matchup?

Keep it right here for live updates on all of today’s action.

FINAL: Blue Jays 10, Rangers 1

W: Marco Estrada (1-0), L: Cole Hamels (0-1)

SCORING PLAYS

Top 3: Josh Donaldson RBI double (1-0)

Top 3: Jose Bautista RBI single (2-0)

Top 3: Troy Tulowitzki 3-RBI triple (5-0)

Top 4: Melvin Upton Jr. solo home run (6-0)

Top 4: Josh Donaldson RBI single (7-0)

Top 9: Jose Bautista 3-RBI home run (10-0)

Bot 9: Shin-Soo Choo RBI groundout (10-1)

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The National League is the Chicago Cubs’ to lose.

There are no locks in MLB‘s postseason, especially during the best-of-five division stage. Yet there’s no argument over which club is best positioned to reach the World Series.

During a dominant season, the 103-58 Cubs outscored opponents by 252 runs led by rightful NL MVP favorite Kris Bryant. Only the Boston Red Sox and Coors Field-fueled Colorado Rockies scored more runs. The Cubs also allowed an MLB-low 3.4 runs per game with help from a deep rotation and baseball’s best defense.

They will open their postseason Friday night against the San Francisco Giants, who rode ace Madison Bumgarner in Wednesday’s 3-0 Wild Card Game victory over the New York Mets. A heavy favorite to run the table, per Odds Shark, Chicago gets a San Francisco squad that crawled to the finish line after a strong first half.

If the Cubs take care of business, they would then challenge the winner of the Washington Nationals vs. Los Angeles Dodgers series. Although that National League Division Series matchup is much more even, the Nationals are hobbling into the playoffs without at least two key contributors.

After we look at the NLDS schedule and updated World Series odds, let’s take a deeper dive into the Dodgers-Nationals slate.

NLDS Preview: Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Washington Nationals

This isn’t going to be a fun series for hitters.

Then again, we could say the same about the entire National League bracket. All five postseason participants finished 2016 atop MLB’s team-ERA leaderboard:

The Dodgers’ pitching also registered a record-setting 1,510 strikeouts this season. Second on the all-time ledger? The 2016 Nationals, who collected 1,476 behind Max Scherzer’s MLB-high 284.

Some young pitchers are sacrificing longevity for whiffs. Not Scherzer, who sported a 0.97 WHIP through 228.1 innings. Jon Morosi of Fox Sports noted the historical significance of the Nationals ace’s stat line:

He should take the mound in Friday’s opening game. In an interview on ESPN Radio’s McNabb & Custer, via ESPN.com, Nationals manager Dusty Baker ruled out Stephen Strasburg in the NLDS due to a strained flexor mass in his pitching elbow.

Even though Strasburg coughed up six runs to the Dodgers in their only encounter of the season, his absence is a huge blow for Washington. Gio Gonzalez relinquished 19 runs in September, putting the rotation in doubt after Scherzer and likely Game 2 starter Tanner Roark.

It doesn’t help that the Dodgers will counter Scherzer with Clayton Kershaw.

Missing over two months didn’t stop the Dodgers ace from tying Noah Syndergaard for the highest WAR (6.5) among all pitchers. If not for his back injury, he would unanimously win the NL Cy Young Award with one of the greatest lines of all time.

For those who were worried about how he would return, he’s the same old Kershaw. In five starts off the disabled list, the star southpaw has a 1.29 ERA with 27 strikeouts and two walks over 28 innings.

Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt praised his ace to MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick:

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