ALCS: Toronto Blue Jays vs. Kansas City Royals

The team’s post-season games have earned huge ratings, with overnight numbers for the first three outings against the since-defeated Texas Rangers suggesting an average audience of 2.8 million for the Rogers-owned Sportsnet.

The Toronto Blue Jays won in a thrilling series comeback against the Texas Rangers and fought hard for a Game 5 victory.

The opening game is Friday night at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

“The Rangers went from nine outs away from a spot in the American League Championship Series to a facing a winter of remembering a missed opportunity”, Fraley wrote after the Jays knocked the Rangers out of the playoffs with a 6-3 victory. Gibbons has experience with the Royals core group, including position players Alex Gordon, Eric Hosmer, Jarrod Dyson, Alcides Escobar, Mike Moustakas and Salvador Perez, and pitchers Greg Holland, Luke Hochevar and Danny Duffy.

The Royals and Blue Jays already played a contentious set of games this season, including a matchup in Toronto marked by two bench-clearing incidents.

Look, perhaps it would be justifiable to take issue with Bautista’s bat flip if he busted that out in the middle of May against a team like the Oakland Athletics in the seventh inning of a blowout game. Bautista’s shot against the Rangers was proof, but so were the major league league-leading 232 homers that Toronto hit during the regular season. “We’re going to play our game”. Then the Royals overcame a 2-1 series deficit to beat the wild-card Astros in the best-of-five ALDS. Even without closer Greg Holland, who recently had Tommy John surgery, the bullpen remains among the best in baseball. Cueto, acquired midseason to win big games at the top of the rotation, did just that in Game 5. Cain was fourth in the AL in wins above replacement (WAR) behind the Angels’ Mike Trout, Donaldson, and the Rays’ Kevin Kiermaier…. He also spent a year and a half with current Royals manager Ned Yost, who got that job halfway through the 2010 season. After falling just short of a World Series championship a year ago with a Game 7 loss to San Francisco, the resilient, never-say-die Royals are trying to take this run one step farther. Toronto was upset after Volquez plunked Donaldson and later threw high and inside to the MVP contender.

Police said the baby wasn’t hit by the can and is OK.

That was a big reason why they were able to down the Astros in their divisional series. The last of those games Wednesday was as tense as they come.