Christmas came early for baseball fans, who will get to witness the anticipated 2015 AL Division Series rematch between the Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers.
Last season, the Blue Jays beat the Rangers in Game 5 of the Division Series, sparked by Jose Bautista's memorable bat flip following a tie-breaking, three-run homer in the seventh inning.
In May, Rougned Odor's responded with a vicious punch to Bautista's jaw. What will Game 1 have in store in the rematch?
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Blue Jays-Rangers ALDS TV schedule
Best of five. All times ET.
Game 1: Blue Jays 10, Rangers 1 | Three takeaways
Game 2: Blue Jays 5, Rangers 3 (Jays lead series 2-0) | Three takeaways
Game 3: Rangers at Blue Jays, Sunday, 7:38 p.m. | Colby Lewis, 6-5, 3.71 ERA) vs. Aaron Sanchez, 15-2, 3.00 ERA) | TV: TBS
Game 4*: Rangers at Blue Jays, Monday, TBA | Martin Perez (10-11, 4.39 ERA)vs. Marcus Stroman (9-10, 4.37 ERA) | TV: TBS
Wednesday, Oct. 12
Game 5*: Blue Jays at Rangers, TBA | pitchers TBA | TV: TBS
* — if necessary
Cole Hamels (Getty Images)
Players to watch
— Odor led the Rangers with 33 home runs, one more than Adrian Beltre. It's the first time in club history a second baseman led the Rangers outright in home runs.
— Hamels and Darvish had plenty of rest after the regular season, which ended with some struggles. The two pitchers combined for a 5.12 ERA in September. Hamels owns a career 6.97 ERA vs. Toronto.
— Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus may bat at the bottom of the order but he is clutch in any situation. Andrus leads MLB (min. 80 AB) with a .378 average with runners in scoring position. Andrus also has extra motivation against the Blue Jays: He committed two errors in the seventh inning of the ALDS-deciding fifth game at Toronto last season, after which tears filled his eyes as he blamed himself for the loss.
— Bautista is batting .346/.500/.885 with six runs, two doubles, four homers, 11 RBIs, and eight walks in his last eight postseason games. Each of his last seven home runs, including Tuesday night's in the wild-card game, have tied the game or put the Blue Jays ahead.
— Edwin Encarnacion delivered the walk-off homer to win the wild-card game Tuesday in Toronto. The slugger's 193 home runs since the start of the 2012 season trail only Chris Davis (197) among big-league hitters.
— Blue Jays outfielder Kevin Pillar gets it done with his glove and his bat, having now hit six postseason doubles since the start of 2015, tied for second most in MLB.
Kevin Pillar (Getty Images)
Key stats
— Never count out the Rangers. Texas leads MLB with 49 comeback wins, including MLB-best eight wins when trailing after eight innings. Also, Texas has an MLB-high 21 last at-bat wins and was 36-11 in one-run games (Texas' three wins over Toronto this season were all one-run games) during the regular season mostly because it can keep opponents at bay. The Rangers' bullpen has allowed just three earned runs over its last 39 1/3 innings.
— Rangers are 53-28 at home during the regular season, the best record in AL and second-best in MLB behind the Cubs.
— Blue Jays starters have held their opponent to three earned runs or less in 25 of their last 30 games and are the only AL rotation with an ERA under 4.00. A bullpen which suffered 32 losses this year could be without closer Roberto Osuna, who exited the wild-card game in the top of the 10th with a sore shoulder.