Blue Jays beat Rangers in Game 5, advance to ALCS with 3rd straight win

It took all five games and three straight victories, but the Blue Jays have defeated the Rangers in the American League Division Series after taking Wednesday’s game, 6-3. They will now move on to the ALCS to face the winner of the American League’s other division series, the Royals.

As has been the story for the Jays all season long, the long ball was the key. Edwin Encarnacion hit a solo shot in the sixth off Rangers’ starter Cole Hamels to tie it up at 2-2. The game-winner, though, and the home run that will be seen in video packages and replays for years to come, was Jose Bautista’s incredible blast that featured one of the most emphatic bat flips humanity is capable of.

That dinger was necessary, too, both on the scoreboard and emotionally: in the top of the inning, the Rangers scored on a freak incident at home plate, when Jays’ backstop Russell Martin hit Shin-Soo Choo in the batters box with a throw back to the mound. The ball was live, as per the rules, and Rougned Odor scored on a heads-up play. The field was littered with trash by a crowd that was not aware of why the score had changed for the worse from their perspective, and tensions between the Rangers and Blue Jays flared up multiple times after this incident. Toronto was even playing the game under protest, but it’s safe to say they’re happy to drop that now.

None of that matters now that Game 5 is over, though, and the Jays are victorious. Their midseason moves to add Troy Tulowitzki and David Price have paid off with their first postseason appearance and now playoff series win since 1993. They weren’t punished for using Marcus Stroman instead of Price in this deciding game, either, as Stroman limited the Rangers to two runs over six innings of work, while the lineup took care of the rest.

The season is over for the Rangers, and that’s never easy to handle, but 2015 was a successful season for them. It began with the stench of 2014’s injury riddled campaign very much not washed off them, as everyone was reminded when ace Yu Darvish needed to undergo Tommy John surgery. They survived their many injuries with depth moves and patience, though, and eventually added Hamels to the top of their rotation, and it earned them the AL West crown.

There is enough youth and talent here that the Rangers, who will have Darvish in tow again in 2016, can confidently say they’ll be back soon. For the Jays, though, the season is still going, and with how they’ve played since the end of July, it certainly feels like this is their time.