ALCS Major League Baseball Playoffs Results: Kansas City Royals, Toronto Blue Jays Advance After

The Blue Jays were well into their celebration Wednesday while the Royals and Astros were playing, so the Toronto players didn’t know their opponent in the ALCS.

“You look at all professional sports in general, everybody celebrates more so than they used to”, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said.

Both teams have a rabid fan base who packs their stadium with blue. “Whoever we play is a very, very good opponent”.

Odor raced home while the Jays players held their arms up in disbelief.

Home plate umpire Dale Scott initially ruled it a dead ball but after Rangers manager Jeff Banister questioned the call, the umpires huddled, and Odor was sent home. Beer cans were dangerously raining from the stands.

RA Dickey told a teammate in the dugout “there is no way that a baseball game like this is going to end with Russell Martin throwing a ball of Choo’s hand”.

“That umpiring crew did a great job”, Gibbons said.

By chance, Martin was up to open the bottom of the seventh. However, umpires needed a review to see whether Pompey had interfered with the Rangers’ catcher with his slide.

After Sam Dyson relieved Hamels, Donaldson tied it at 3 with a flare just beyond the reach of Odor at second, but Revere was forced out.

And then with his graceful celebration of the Blue Jays win.

The Blue Jays took their locker room champagne shower celebration to the fans.

One batter later, Jose Bautista launched a baseball halfway to orbit, giving the Blue Jays a 6-3 lead.

“We’re going to stay with the plan and do it. Like I said, do our best to win the game”. “I didn’t plan anything I did”.

Now remember, the Jays haven’t been in the playoffs since 1993.

Toronto, who led the majors in homers this season, will play the Royals, who beat Houston in Game 5 of their series, a rematch of the 1985 ALCS.

The tension had already been palpable from the get-go with the sellout, rally towel-waving crowd up and down like kids on a sugar high.

The two teams played an epic ALCS in 1985.

The Royals and Blue Jays already have played a contentious set of games this season, including a matchup in Toronto marked by two bench-clearing incidents. The Jays had two men on but failed to add to the score. Pillar made a spectacular snag in the fourth inning of Game 5, running from deep to shallow center, diving forward and getting his glove under a ball before it hit the turf to rob Josh Hamilton of a base hit.

“This is the toughest moment of my career so far”, Andrus said.

Encarnacion tied it up with one swing in the bottom of the sixth, dropping the ball into the second deck in left field. After the game, Volquez called Donaldson “a little baby” for complaining about being pitched inside.

Aaron Sanchez came in for Stroman to start the seventh. Price, the 2012 American League Cy Young victorand one of the front-runners for this year’s best pitcher award, hasn’t necessarily been able to translate that success into the post-season, where he’s 2-6 with a 5.04 earned-run average through 12 games. They trailed 0-2 in the series, and in Game 5, they quickly fell behind 2-0.

Once again, the roof was closed.

Kansas City Royals shortstop Christian Colon smiles during batting practice for baseball’s American League Championship Series Thursday, October15, 2015 in Kansas City, Mo.

– eto, Ventura, and Volquez all have games with at least eight strikeouts this postseason – Kansas City had three such games total in their postseason appearances prior to 2015.