Series Thread: ALDS: The Texas Rangers host the Toronto Blue Jays!

[Bmurph]

and hopefully 2 victories for the good guys!

 

[Nightcrawler]

I doubt we benefit from playing the wildcard. I think the Jays will throw Happ and Sanchez the first 2 games. Happ is a 20 game winner and Sanchez is 15-2

 

[Nightcrawler]

An interesting coincidence? Or are the Blue Jays working for the Devil?

They ended the season with 666 runs against.

 

[Kelleyman]

No more cans Ha

I think this is the game America wants just not in prime time. I think the matchup is good as well. Just keep it fair.

 

[PhantomWarrior]

No more cans Ha

I think this is the game America wants just not in prime time. I think the matchup is good as well. Just keep it fair.

Maybe all the beer throws in Toronto games are due to fans realizing how bad Canadian beer really is.

 

[Kelleyman]

Maybe all the beer throws in Toronto games are due to fans realizing how bad Canadian beer really is.

Thinking it is Moulson Gold. Gold in the loosest sense. Ha

 

[Nightcrawler]

Maybe all the beer throws in Toronto games are due to fans realizing how bad Canadian beer really is.

They're just upset because they live in Canada.

 

[DT LUNA]

Ya know it's a slow night when P. Warrior and Wastin ain't talking. See ya at the game.

 

[Bmurph]

I doubt we benefit from playing the wildcard. I think the Jays will throw Happ and Sanchez the first 2 games. Happ is a 20 game winner and Sanchez is 15-2

Estrada starts game 1, Happ game 2, and they will throw Sanchez in game 3

 

[Bmurph]

Blue Jays-Rangers ALDS: Start times, how to watch, predictions, things to know
Here's all you need to know about the upcoming ALDS between Toronto and Texas

• by Dayn Perry
• @daynperry
• 7h ago • 4 min read

In a hotly-anticipated rematch of the 2015 ALDS, the Blue Jays and Rangers will meet again in the 2016 ALDS. Last season, the Blue Jays prevailed in a white-knuckled five-game series. This time around, however, the Rangers enter having put up the better record in the regular season. As we get set for this one, let's have a look at the essentials ...

First, here's the schedule and broadcast information for the Blue Jays vs. Rangers best-of-five ALDS matchup. All start times are Eastern Time.

DATE TIME VENUE STARTING PITCHERS TV STREAMING RADIO
Gm. 1 Thurs., Oct. 6 4:30 p.m. Globe Life Park
Marco Estrada vs. Cole Hamels TBS TBS.com
ESPN Radio
Gm. 2
Fri., Oct. 7 1:00 p.m. Globe Life Park
J.A. Happ vs. Yu Darvish
TBS TBS.com ESPN Radio
Gm. 3
Sun., Oct. 9 7:30 p.m. Rogers Centre
TBA vs. Aaron Sanchez
TBS TBS.com ESPN Radio
Gm. 4*
Mon., Oct. 10 TBA Rogers Centre
TBA vs. TBA
TBS TBS.com
ESPN Radio
Gm. 5*
Weds., Oct. 12 TBA Globe Life Park
TBA vs. TBA
TBS TBS.com
ESPN Radio
In the regular season, the Rangers went 95-67 and won the AL West by 9.0 games over the Mariners. The Blue Jays, meantime, went 89-73 and took until the final day of the regular season to clinch a wild card berth. Now here are few more things to know about the ALDS ...

This one of baseball's most intense recent rivalries
This surely isn't breaking news to you, but it's worth emphasizing as we get set for this series. The first shot across the bow came during the seventh inning of Game 5 of last year's ALDS, when Jose Bautista unfurled The Bat-Flip That Launched A Thousand Ships ...

The Rangers weren't necessarily fond of Bautista's exuberance on that decisive blast, which brings to the baseball events of May 15 of this year ...

Yes, those simmering, mutual hostilities begat The Right Cross Heard 'Round The World. Now, it's not uncommon for two teams that don't like each other and have a history to get together in a high-stakes encounter and have nothing happen outside of actual baseball. That will probably be the case here, but the tantalizing possibility of some unsanctioned activities. In conclusion ...


The Blue Jays won the season series
During the 2016 regular season, the Jays took four of seven head-to-head games against the Rangers. Over those seven games, the Jays outscored Texas by a hefty margin of 36-21. In those seven games, however, the Blue Jays faced neither Cole Hamels nor Yu Darvish, who will make up half of the Texas ALDS rotation. So that's something to bear in mind.

The Rangers have a much stronger roster now than when they last played the Blue Jays

The Rangers and Jays were done playing each other by May 15. In addition to the Toronto-friendly pitching matchups noted above, there's also the fact that the Rangers' roster is much stronger right now than it was back then. The bullpen's been improved by the call-up of Matt Bush (he was summoned to the majors just in time for the second Jays-Rangers series) and the return to health of Tanner Scheppers. Jeremy Jeffress may also wind up as a playoff contributor. In the lineup, the pre-deadline additions of Jonathan Lucroy and Carlos Beltran directly addressed to significant holes, and the surge that Carlos Gomez has enjoyed since being plucked from the scrap heap appears to be sustainable. In other words, this is a significantly better Texas roster than the Jays encountered during the regular season.

The Blue Jays put up a better run differential against a tougher schedule
The Rangers indeed barged to 95 wins during the regular season, but on the season they outscored their opponents by just eight runs overall. At the fundamental runs scored and runs allowed level, that makes them more of an 82-win team. In large part, it's the Rangers' historic 36-11 mark in one-run games that allowed them to outplay their run differential. The problem is that success in one-run games doesn't have a lot of sustainability or carryover. While, as noted, the Texas roster is stronger right now than it's ever been, their lofty win total might be a tad misleading. The Jays, meanwhile, authored a +93 run differential this season. So while they won 89 games, they played, at least at the level of the run differential, like a 91-win team.

As well, it's worth noting that the Jays' body of work came against a generally tougher schedule. This season, the Jays' opponents had an average winning percentage of .506, which ranked sixth in MLB. The Rangers' opponents in 2016 had an average winning percentage of .503, which ranked 13th. Obviously, that's not much of a difference, but it's something. Stated another way, the Jays played 59 games against teams that wound up with a losing record, while Texas played 71 such contests.

The Rangers have home-field advantage
Home-field advantage in baseball of course amounts to nothing more than the right to play a potential final game of a given series at home. So with an eye toward a possible ALDS Game 5, let's point out that the Rangers this season were 53-28 with a +34 run differential at home and just 42-39 with a -24 run differential on the road. On the other side, Toronto in 2016 was 46-35 at home with a +38 run differential at home and 43-38 with a +55 run differential on the road.

CBS Sports predictions
What would a preview post be without some predictions? Here's what the five CBS Sports baseball scribes expect the outcome of this ALDS to be:

R.J. ANDERSON MIKE AXISA JONAH KERI DAYN PERRY MATT SNYDER
ALDS Winner

No. of Games 4 5 4 5 5
With five writers making picks, that's as much of an even split as you can get. Also of note is that a majority of us expect the series to go the full five games. Here's hoping.

 

[Bmurph]

Toronto police identify beer-throwing fan from Wild Card Game as local writer
The fan who threw beer in the direction of Orioles left fielder on Tuesday has been ID'd

• by Matt Snyder
• @MattSnyderCBS
• 1h ago • 2 min read

During Tuesday's AL wild-card game in Toronto, some jackwagon Blue Jaysfan threw a beer can in the general direction of Orioles' left fielder Hyun soo Kim on a routine fly ball. On Wednesday, Toronto police released a photo of the man in order to help locate him and later announced that he was identified.

USATSI
It was utterly disgraceful and the fan deserves to be legally punished. There's a social contract when entering sports events to not interfere like that anyway, but there are also rules in place and, if broken, those call for arrest. Throwing objects on the field qualifies and this appears to have been an intentional attempt to cause Kim to miss the fly ball (we can't say the thrower wanted to hit Kim, but we can't say he didn't).

The Toronto Police issued the following statement on the clown fan in question:

On Tuesday, October 4, 2016, at the Rogers Centre, during a baseball game between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Baltimore Orioles, a beer can was tossed from the left-field stands onto the playing field.

Investigators from 52 Division have been working closely with the Rogers Centre to identify the person responsible.

An image of a man, police are alleging to be responsible for this incident, is attached.

Investigators are strongly encouraging this man to seek legal advice and turn himself into police. Anyone with any information on this man, is asked to contact investigators at 52 Division by calling 416-808-5200.

And here is said idiot fan:

Toronto Police
https://bttrack.com/Click/Native?da...tulsKC2CUEi-sf1u9VHhUfqytp6EbwsbdrbZ7NOqGa_g2

Fortunately, it appears he has been caught:


Pagan's Twitter page has since been deleted, but before deletion (via Google cache), I can see that his bio said the following, "Postmedia sports. Hockey, baseball, ball hockey, pond hockey. Solid in the room. Cold beer, hot campfire."

Why is this such a big deal? Well, it's a safety issue, first of all. Secondly, punishment needs to happen to serve as a deterrent for the future and third, it's a total nuisance. Fans are supposed to be gathering to watch this, our baseball, be played by the best baseball players on earth -- not to see if some fan can make a fool of himself.

As for the Blue Jays, they have issued the following apology:

Throughout this season, we have witnessed an incredible level of fan engagement, with a passionate and loyal fan base that extends across Canada.

On the heels of one of the most competitive and exhilarating baseball games in our club's history, it is extremely unfortunate that the irresponsible actions of one individual would detract from the game on the field, and tarnish an otherwise memorable night.

Could I add something? Let's not broadly paint the entire fan base due to the actions of one -- or even a handful of, when that's the case -- individual. Most fan bases are overwhelmingly good but have a few bad apples.

He should get fired for doing something that stupid in public, and his company being identified

 

[PhantomWarrior]

Did not

Ya know it's a slow night when P. Warrior and Wastin ain't talking. See ya at the game.

Did not know I was that chatty

Watching the Mets game. My dearly departed dad's team.

Thor is a beast. 7 zeros on the board and two hits. One an infield dribbler.

Mets gotta score some runs for the kid.

 

[Nightcrawler]

I'm sure people will be upset but my official prediction is 3-1 Blue Jays. I've been saying all year. Anyone but these guys, especially in the first round. I hope I am wrong, I really really do. Rooster seems to have embraced the matchup and it seems like he wanted to play them, better hope he is right.

Game one: Hamels vs Estrada

I think the Jays kill lefties. Hamels has been slumping lately and Estrada owns us. Jays win

Game two: Darvish vs. Happ

Darvish pitches a masterpiece in a close game and shuts down the Jays for a win

Game 3:

Sanchez has been lights out all year. Can't count Lewis out, but Jays win a close game late

Game 4:

Jays win

 

[Judge Fudge]

Hmm the person who SHOULD have started the WC game is pitching in game 1.

Nice

 

[darrylgann]

Blue Jays-Rangers ALDS: Start times, how to watch, predictions, things to know
Here's all you need to know about the upcoming ALDS between Toronto and Texas

• by Dayn Perry
• @daynperry
• 7h ago • 4 min read

In a hotly-anticipated rematch of the 2015 ALDS, the Blue Jays and Rangers will meet again in the 2016 ALDS. Last season, the Blue Jays prevailed in a white-knuckled five-game series. This time around, however, the Rangers enter having put up the better record in the regular season. As we get set for this one, let's have a look at the essentials ...

First, here's the schedule and broadcast information for the Blue Jays vs. Rangers best-of-five ALDS matchup. All start times are Eastern Time.

DATE TIME VENUE STARTING PITCHERS TV STREAMING RADIO
Gm. 1 Thurs., Oct. 6 4:30 p.m. Globe Life Park
Marco Estrada vs. Cole Hamels TBS TBS.com
ESPN Radio
Gm. 2
Fri., Oct. 7 1:00 p.m. Globe Life Park
J.A. Happ vs. Yu Darvish
TBS TBS.com ESPN Radio
Gm. 3
Sun., Oct. 9 7:30 p.m. Rogers Centre
TBA vs. Aaron Sanchez
TBS TBS.com ESPN Radio
Gm. 4*
Mon., Oct. 10 TBA Rogers Centre
TBA vs. TBA
TBS TBS.com
ESPN Radio
Gm. 5*
Weds., Oct. 12 TBA Globe Life Park
TBA vs. TBA
TBS TBS.com
ESPN Radio
In the regular season, the Rangers went 95-67 and won the AL West by 9.0 games over the Mariners. The Blue Jays, meantime, went 89-73 and took until the final day of the regular season to clinch a wild card berth. Now here are few more things to know about the ALDS ...

This one of baseball's most intense recent rivalries
This surely isn't breaking news to you, but it's worth emphasizing as we get set for this series. The first shot across the bow came during the seventh inning of Game 5 of last year's ALDS, when Jose Bautista unfurled The Bat-Flip That Launched A Thousand Ships ...

The Rangers weren't necessarily fond of Bautista's exuberance on that decisive blast, which brings to the baseball events of May 15 of this year ...

Yes, those simmering, mutual hostilities begat The Right Cross Heard 'Round The World. Now, it's not uncommon for two teams that don't like each other and have a history to get together in a high-stakes encounter and have nothing happen outside of actual baseball. That will probably be the case here, but the tantalizing possibility of some unsanctioned activities. In conclusion ...


The Blue Jays won the season series
During the 2016 regular season, the Jays took four of seven head-to-head games against the Rangers. Over those seven games, the Jays outscored Texas by a hefty margin of 36-21. In those seven games, however, the Blue Jays faced neither Cole Hamels nor Yu Darvish, who will make up half of the Texas ALDS rotation. So that's something to bear in mind.

The Rangers have a much stronger roster now than when they last played the Blue Jays

The Rangers and Jays were done playing each other by May 15. In addition to the Toronto-friendly pitching matchups noted above, there's also the fact that the Rangers' roster is much stronger right now than it was back then. The bullpen's been improved by the call-up of Matt Bush (he was summoned to the majors just in time for the second Jays-Rangers series) and the return to health of Tanner Scheppers. Jeremy Jeffress may also wind up as a playoff contributor. In the lineup, the pre-deadline additions of Jonathan Lucroy and Carlos Beltran directly addressed to significant holes, and the surge that Carlos Gomez has enjoyed since being plucked from the scrap heap appears to be sustainable. In other words, this is a significantly better Texas roster than the Jays encountered during the regular season.

The Blue Jays put up a better run differential against a tougher schedule
The Rangers indeed barged to 95 wins during the regular season, but on the season they outscored their opponents by just eight runs overall. At the fundamental runs scored and runs allowed level, that makes them more of an 82-win team. In large part, it's the Rangers' historic 36-11 mark in one-run games that allowed them to outplay their run differential. The problem is that success in one-run games doesn't have a lot of sustainability or carryover. While, as noted, the Texas roster is stronger right now than it's ever been, their lofty win total might be a tad misleading. The Jays, meanwhile, authored a +93 run differential this season. So while they won 89 games, they played, at least at the level of the run differential, like a 91-win team.

As well, it's worth noting that the Jays' body of work came against a generally tougher schedule. This season, the Jays' opponents had an average winning percentage of .506, which ranked sixth in MLB. The Rangers' opponents in 2016 had an average winning percentage of .503, which ranked 13th. Obviously, that's not much of a difference, but it's something. Stated another way, the Jays played 59 games against teams that wound up with a losing record, while Texas played 71 such contests.

The Rangers have home-field advantage
Home-field advantage in baseball of course amounts to nothing more than the right to play a potential final game of a given series at home. So with an eye toward a possible ALDS Game 5, let's point out that the Rangers this season were 53-28 with a +34 run differential at home and just 42-39 with a -24 run differential on the road. On the other side, Toronto in 2016 was 46-35 at home with a +38 run differential at home and 43-38 with a +55 run differential on the road.

CBS Sports predictions
What would a preview post be without some predictions? Here's what the five CBS Sports baseball scribes expect the outcome of this ALDS to be:

R.J. ANDERSON MIKE AXISA JONAH KERI DAYN PERRY MATT SNYDER
ALDS Winner

No. of Games 4 5 4 5 5
With five writers making picks, that's as much of an even split as you can get. Also of note is that a majority of us expect the series to go the full five games. Here's hoping.

Think those times are Eastern Standard. Game should start at 3:30 tomorrow. Pregame, that is.

 

[PhantomWarrior]

Toronto police identify beer-throwing fan from Wild Card Game as local writer
The fan who threw beer in the direction of Orioles left fielder on Tuesday has been ID'd

• by Matt Snyder
• @MattSnyderCBS
• 1h ago • 2 min read

During Tuesday's AL wild-card game in Toronto, some jackwagon Blue Jaysfan threw a beer can in the general direction of Orioles' left fielder Hyun soo Kim on a routine fly ball. On Wednesday, Toronto police released a photo of the man in order to help locate him and later announced that he was identified.

USATSI
It was utterly disgraceful and the fan deserves to be legally punished. There's a social contract when entering sports events to not interfere like that anyway, but there are also rules in place and, if broken, those call for arrest. Throwing objects on the field qualifies and this appears to have been an intentional attempt to cause Kim to miss the fly ball (we can't say the thrower wanted to hit Kim, but we can't say he didn't).

The Toronto Police issued the following statement on the clown fan in question:

On Tuesday, October 4, 2016, at the Rogers Centre, during a baseball game between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Baltimore Orioles, a beer can was tossed from the left-field stands onto the playing field.

Investigators from 52 Division have been working closely with the Rogers Centre to identify the person responsible.

An image of a man, police are alleging to be responsible for this incident, is attached.

Investigators are strongly encouraging this man to seek legal advice and turn himself into police. Anyone with any information on this man, is asked to contact investigators at 52 Division by calling 416-808-5200.

And here is said idiot fan:

Toronto Police

Fortunately, it appears he has been caught:


Pagan's Twitter page has since been deleted, but before deletion (via Google cache), I can see that his bio said the following, "Postmedia sports. Hockey, baseball, ball hockey, pond hockey. Solid in the room. Cold beer, hot campfire."

Why is this such a big deal? Well, it's a safety issue, first of all. Secondly, punishment needs to happen to serve as a deterrent for the future and third, it's a total nuisance. Fans are supposed to be gathering to watch this, our baseball, be played by the best baseball players on earth -- not to see if some fan can make a fool of himself.

As for the Blue Jays, they have issued the following apology:

Throughout this season, we have witnessed an incredible level of fan engagement, with a passionate and loyal fan base that extends across Canada.

On the heels of one of the most competitive and exhilarating baseball games in our club's history, it is extremely unfortunate that the irresponsible actions of one individual would detract from the game on the field, and tarnish an otherwise memorable night.

Could I add something? Let's not broadly paint the entire fan base due to the actions of one -- or even a handful of, when that's the case -- individual. Most fan bases are overwhelmingly good but have a few bad apples.

He should get fired for doing something that stupid in public, and his company being identified

What a jackboot socialist police state Canada has become. They put more effort into this jerk than the terrorist attackers killing people.

 

[romeo212000]

I'm sure people will be upset but my official prediction is 3-1 Blue Jays. I've been saying all year. Anyone but these guys, especially in the first round. I hope I am wrong, I really really do. Rooster seems to have embraced the matchup and it seems like he wanted to play them, better hope he is right.

Game one: Hamels vs Estrada

I think the Jays kill lefties. Hamels has been slumping lately and Estrada owns us. Jays win

Game two: Darvish vs. Happ

Darvish pitches a masterpiece in a close game and shuts down the Jays for a win

Game 3:

Sanchez has been lights out all year. Can't count Lewis out, but Jays win a close game late

Game 4:

Jays win

God, you're a whiny bitch.

 

[saddles]

Crawler, I don't have any problem with you expressing how you feel, but I disagree about Game 1. You failed to go into any detail about Game 4 and even though you could very well be right about Game 2 and Game 3, I think if you are wrong about Game 1 that that tears apart your whole line of thinking. I would be interested to know why you completely glossed over Game 4. I think if Colby is the old reliable Colby we just might sweep.

 

[DT LUNA]

Did not

Did not know I was that chatty

Watching the Mets game. My dearly departed dad's team.

Thor is a beast. 7 zeros on the board and two hits. One an infield dribbler.

Mets gotta score some runs for the kid.

It's a good thing.

 

[DT LUNA]

Crawler I want to remind you that we have faced almost every pitcher in the AL. Many of which are aces or top notch. We have beaten them and they have beaten us. All of that is out the window. It's a new day. Either team can win. They are MLB teams and they are where they are because of good pitching as well as offense. The team that plays the best wins. Flat fact! Nothing prior to today matters. Today is all that counts. Tomorrow will take care of itself.