Cannabis Sativa

2015 American League Division Series
2015ALDSlogo.png
Team (Wins) Manager Season
Kansas City Royals (3) Ned Yost 95-67, .586, 12 GA
Houston Astros (2) A. J. Hinch 86–76, .531, 2 GB
Dates: October 8–14
Television: United States:
Canada:
TV announcers: Matt Vasgersian, John Smoltz, A. J. Pierzynski and Jon Paul Morosi
Radio: ESPN
Radio announcers: Dave O' Brien and John Kruk
Umpires: Gerry Davis (crew chief), Lance Barksdale, Mike Everitt, Ángel Hernández, Ron Kulpa, Todd Tichenor
Team (Wins) Manager Season
Toronto Blue Jays (3) John Gibbons 93-69, .574, 6 GA
Texas Rangers (2) Jeff Banister 88-74, .543, 2 GA
Dates: October 8–14
Television: United States:
Canada:
TV announcers: Kenny Albert, Harold Reynolds, Tom Verducci and Ken Rosenthal (Fox)
Bob Costas, Jim Kaat and Ken Rosenthal (MLBN)
Radio: ESPN
Radio announcers: Chris Berman (Games 1–2), Dave Flemming (Games 3–4), Dan Shulman (Game 5) and Rick Sutcliffe
Umpires: Dale Scott (crew chief), Dan Bellino, Vic Carapazza, James Hoye, Marvin Hudson, Alfonso Márquez
AL Wild Card Game: Houston Astros beat New York Yankees, 3–0
 < 2014 ALDS  
2015 ALCS 2015 World Series

The 2015 American League Division Series were two best-of-five-game series to determine the participating teams in the 2015 American League Championship Series. The three divisional winners (seeded 1-3) and a fourth team—the winner of a one-game Wild Card playoff— played in two series. Fox Sports 1 carried the majority of games in the United States, while Sportsnet primarily simulcast Fox Sports 1's coverage in Canada.[1] MLB Network had exclusive coverage of Game 3 of the Kansas City Royals-Houston Astros series in both the United States and Canada, and Game 2 of the Toronto Blue Jays-Texas Rangers series in the U.S. only (Sportsnet, co-owned with the Blue Jays by Rogers Communications, simulcast MLB Network's coverage for the latter).[2] The ALDS began on October 8 and ran until October 14.[3] The Toronto Blue Jays and Kansas City Royals had home field advantage in this round of the playoffs. With the New York Yankees being eliminated by the Astros in the AL Wild Card Game, this is the first time in ALDS history that all four ALDS teams were expansion teams.

These matchups were:

The higher seeded team in each series hosted Games 1, 2, and 5, and the lower seeded team hosted Games 3 and 4.

This was the first ALDS appearance for both the Astros and Blue Jays. Toronto's last postseason berth came in 1993, the final season of the two-round playoff format. Houston, on the other hand, made its first playoff appearance as an American League team; the franchise's preceding postseason berth came in 2005 while a member of the National League. The Blue Jays and the Rangers, and the Astros and the Royals, met for the first time in postseason play.

Matchups[edit]

Kansas City Royals vs. Houston Astros[edit]

Kansas City won the series, 3–2.

Game Date Score Location Time Attendance 
1 October 8 Houston Astros – 5, Kansas City Royals – 2 Kauffman Stadium 3:14 (:49 delay) 40,146[4] 
2 October 9 Houston Astros – 4, Kansas City Royals – 5 Kauffman Stadium 3:27 40,008[5] 
3 October 11 Kansas City Royals – 2, Houston Astros – 4 Minute Maid Park 3:20 42,674[6] 
4 October 12 Kansas City Royals – 9, Houston Astros – 6 Minute Maid Park 4:05 42,387[7] 
5 October 14 Houston Astros – 2, Kansas City Royals – 7 Kauffman Stadium 2:42 40,566[8]

Toronto Blue Jays vs. Texas Rangers[edit]

Toronto won the series, 3–2.

Game Date Score Location Time Attendance 
1 October 8 Texas Rangers – 5, Toronto Blue Jays – 3 Rogers Centre 2:53 49,834[9] 
2 October 9 Texas Rangers – 6, Toronto Blue Jays – 4 (14) Rogers Centre 4:57 49,716[10] 
3 October 11 Toronto Blue Jays − 5, Texas Rangers − 1 Globe Life Park 3:08 50,941[11] 
4 October 12 Toronto Blue Jays − 8, Texas Rangers − 4 Globe Life Park 3:18 47,679[12] 
5 October 14 Texas Rangers − 3, Toronto Blue Jays − 6 Rogers Centre 3:37 49,742[13]

Houston vs. Kansas City[edit]

Game 1, October 8[edit]

October 8, 2015 7:37 p.m. (EDT) at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Houston 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 5 11 0
Kansas City 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 6 0
WP: Collin McHugh (1–0)   LP: Yordano Ventura (0–1)   Sv: Luke Gregerson (1)
Home runs:
HOU: Colby Rasmus (1), George Springer (1)
KC: Kendrys Morales 2 (2)
Attendance: 40,146

Game 2, October 9[edit]

October 9, 2015 3:45 p.m. (EDT) at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Houston 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 8 0
Kansas City 0 1 1 0 0 2 1 0 x 5 9 0
WP: Kelvin Herrera (1–0)   LP: Will Harris (0–1)   Sv: Wade Davis (1)
Home runs:
HOU: Colby Rasmus (2)
KC: Salvador Pérez (1)
Attendance: 40,008

Game 3, October 11[edit]

October 11, 2015 4:10 p.m. (EDT) at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Kansas City 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 5 0
Houston 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 x 4 8 1
WP: Dallas Keuchel (1–0)   LP: Edinson Volquez (0–1)   Sv: Luke Gregerson (2)
Home runs:
KC: Lorenzo Cain (1), Alex Gordon (1)
HOU: Chris Carter (1)
Attendance: 42,674

Game 4, October 12[edit]

October 12, 2015 1:07 p.m. (EDT) at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Kansas City 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 5 2 9 8 0
Houston 0 1 1 0 1 0 3 0 0 6 9 1
WP: Ryan Madson (1–0)   LP: Tony Sipp (0–1)   Sv: Wade Davis (2)
Home runs:
KC: Salvador Pérez (2), Eric Hosmer (1)
HOU: Carlos Gómez (1), Carlos Correa 2 (2), Colby Rasmus (3)
Attendance: 42,387

Trailing by four runs and six outs away from being eliminated from the postseason, Kansas City opened the eighth with five straight singles off relievers Will Harris and Tony Sipp, with RBI hits by Lorenzo Cain and Eric Hosmer making it 6–4 and leaving the bases loaded with no outs. Kendrys Morales followed with a hard, one-bouncer off Sipp's glove. The ball took two more hops and got past the top of Carlos Correa's mitt, rolling into center field as two runs scored to tie it at six. Alex Gordon's RBI groundout off Luke Gregerson later in the inning put Kansas City ahead. Hosmer launched a two-run homer in the ninth for insurance.

This marked the second time in franchise history that Kansas City had rallied from a four-run deficit after seven innings to win a postseason game. The first came in 2014, when the Royals trailed the Oakland Athletics 7–3 in the eighth of their AL Wild Card Game before eventually winning in the 12th. These are the only two instances in Major League history of a team taking a must-win game after trailing by four runs after seven innings.[14]

Game 5, October 14[edit]

October 14, 2015 8:07 p.m. (EDT) at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Houston 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0
Kansas City 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 3 x 7 8 0
WP: Johnny Cueto (1–0)   LP: Collin McHugh (1–1)
Home runs:
HOU: Luis Valbuena (1)
KC: Kendrys Morales (3)
Attendance: 40,566

Composite line score[edit]

2015 ALDS (3–2): Kansas City Royals beat Houston Astros

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Kansas City Royals 0 4 1 3 3 2 1 8 3 25 36 0
Houston Astros 3 6 2 0 4 1 4 1 0 21 38 2
Total attendance: 205,781   Average attendance: 41,156

Toronto vs. Texas[edit]

Game 1, October 8[edit]

October 8, 2015 3:37 p.m. (EDT) at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Texas 0 0 2 0 2 0 1 0 0 5 5 0
Toronto 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 3 6 1
WP: Yovani Gallardo (1–0)   LP: David Price (0–1)   Sv: Sam Dyson (1)
Home runs:
TEX: Robinson Chirinos (1), Rougned Odor (1)
TOR: José Bautista (1)
Attendance: 49,834

David Price took the mound in search of his first playoff win as a starter, and coming into the game he was 0–4 lifetime against the Texas Rangers in the postseason. Opposing him was Yovani Gallardo, who provided the Rangers with their only two victories against Toronto in the regular season, and had been one of the few starters in the majors who had been able to shut down the Blue Jays' bats. In the top of the third inning, Price hit leadoff hitter Rougned Odor with a pitch. One out later, Delino DeShields hit a single up the middle scoring Odor for the first run of the game. A few batters later, Adrián Beltré gave Texas a 2–0 lead with an RBI single. The Jays cut the lead in half in the fourth thanks to an infield single by Edwin Encarnación scoring Ben Revere. After Price once again hit Odor in the top of the fifth inning, Robinson Chirinos hit a fly ball home run to give the Rangers a 4–1 lead. The Jays would claw back to within a run before Odor hit a line drive solo home run into the visitor's bullpen in right field, giving the Rangers breathing room and the eventual 5–3 win. The injury bug hit both clubs, as Beltre was forced to leave due to a nagging back injury and was replaced by Hanser Alberto. Josh Donaldson left in the fifth inning with a possible concussion, after being hit by the knee of Odor after a slide during an attempted double play, and José Bautista left in the top of the ninth due to a hamstring cramp.

Game 2, October 9[edit]

October 9, 2015 12:45 p.m. (EDT) at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 R H E
Texas 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 6 11 1
Toronto 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 8 1
WP: Keone Kela (1–0)   LP: LaTroy Hawkins (0–1)   Sv: Ross Ohlendorf (1)
Home runs:
TEX: None
TOR: Josh Donaldson (1)
Attendance: 49,716

The contest was the fourth longest (in terms of innings played) in Division Series history, and the second-longest in ALDS history.[15]

Game 3, October 11[edit]

October 11, 2015 8:10 p.m. (EDT) at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Toronto 0 0 1 1 0 3 0 0 0 5 9 1
Texas 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 5 1
WP: Marco Estrada (1−0)   LP: Martín Pérez (0−1)
Home runs:
TOR: Troy Tulowitzki (1)
TEX: None
Attendance: 50,941

In a do-or-die Game 3, the Blue Jays sent Marco Estrada to the hill, opposing him was Martín Pérez making his first career start and appearance against the Blue Jays. Estrada was sharp throughout his start, only running into trouble late. Perez lost control of the strike zone in the fourth inning after intentionally walking Edwin Encarnación, and he eventually gave up a bases loaded walk to Troy Tulowitzki making it 2–0 Jays before getting a double play ball off the bat of Dioner Navarro to end the inning. In the sixth inning, Perez got into trouble again after two straight singles by Josh Donaldson and José Bautista, forcing the Rangers to go to Chi Chi Gonzalez to try and end the threat. After walking Edwin Encarnación and loading the bases with nobody out, the Blue Jays bad luck struck again as Chris Colabello hit a ball right to first baseman Mitch Moreland who completed a 3-2-3 double play to put the Jays rally in jeopardy. The next batter in the inning, Tulowitzki , worked Gonzalez to a full count and then on the sixth pitch of the at bat drilled a three-run home run that broke the game open. The Rangers only threatened in the seventh inning, and Estrada was pulled after back-to-back hits by Elvis Andrus and Josh Hamilton with one out. The Jays went to Aaron Loup for a favorable lefty-lefty matchup which resulted in an RBI groundout by Rougned Odor. The Jays then went to Mark Lowe to face Robinson Chirinos who worked him to a full count and then on the eighth pitch of the at-bat caught Chirinos looking to end the inning, Roberto Osuna came on and pitched a perfect ninth as Toronto forced Game 4.

Game 4, October 12[edit]

October 12, 2015 4:07 p.m. (EDT) at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Toronto 3 1 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 8 12 0
Texas 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 4 11 0
WP: David Price (1−1)   LP: Derek Holland (0−1)
Home runs:
TOR: Josh Donaldson (2), Chris Colabello (1), Kevin Pillar (1)
TEX: None
Attendance: 47,679

After the Blue Jays forced Game 4, the Rangers turned to Derek Holland to end the series. Opposing him was knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, making his first postseason start. The Blue Jays jumped on Holland for three runs in the first inning on a single by Ben Revere and home runs by Josh Donaldson and Chris Colabello. A Kevin Pillar home run in the second inning made it 4−0 Toronto. A walk by Donaldson and a double by José Bautista chased Holland and put runners on second and third with no one out. Colby Lewis came on in relief of Holland and allowed a fielder's choice ground out from Edwin Encarnación, getting Bautista out at third but allowing Donaldson to score to make it 5−0. A double by Colabello scored Encarnacion to make it 6–0. A fly ball by Troy Tulowitzki was the second out, Russell Martin walked and Pillar struck an RBI single to score Colabello and make it 7−0 after three innings. In the bottom of the third, Prince Fielder scored on a wild pitch from Dickey to cut the lead to six, but that was the only run Dickey would allow in 4⅔ innings. David Price relieved Dickey and got Shin-Soo Choo to fly out on his first pitch to end the fifth. In the seventh, another RBI single by Pillar scored Martin and pushed the lead back to seven runs. Although the Rangers tried to chip away at the lead, scoring a run in the seventh and two more in the eighth off Price to cut the lead to four runs but Aaron Sanchez came on and struck out Drew Stubbs to end the threat. Osuna retired the Rangers in order in the ninth inning to force a game 5 back in Toronto.

Game 5, October 14[edit]

October 14, 2015 4:07 p.m. (EDT) at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Texas 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 8 3
Toronto 0 0 1 0 0 1 4 0 x 6 7 1
WP: Aaron Sanchez (1–0)   LP: Cole Hamels (0–1)   Sv: Roberto Osuna (1)
Home runs:
TEX: Shin-Soo Choo (1)
TOR: Edwin Encarnación (1), José Bautista (2)
Attendance: 49,742

Prior to the game, fans signed a petition to play the game with the roof open.[16] The roof was kept closed despite thousands of fans signing the petition.[17] The reason for the closure was that keeping it open during cold temperatures would cause it to be stuck in the open position.[18]

An RBI single by Prince Fielder in the first and a solo homer by Shin-Soo Choo in the third gave the Rangers an early lead over Marcus Stroman and the Jays. The Jays fought back to tie it with an RBI double by José Bautista in the third and a solo home run by Edwin Encarnación in the sixth.

The 53-minute seventh inning was laden with controversy. At the top of the inning, with Rougned Odor on third, Russell Martin was in the process of throwing the ball back to the mound after Aaron Sanchez delivered a pitch, but the ball hit Shin-Soo Choo's bat and bounced toward third base. Odor observed this and ran to home to score the go-ahead run, though the play was initially ruled a dead ball by home-plate umpire Dale Scott. Rangers manager Jeff Banister came out to argue and after a discussion, the umpires awarded the run to Texas, citing rule 6.03a - that Choo was not interfering with the throw back to the pitcher. Since Choo was in the batter's box the play was ruled a live ball. The game was delayed while a small number of angry home fans tossed beer cans, bottles and garbage on the field. During this time a video review from the umpires was on confirming with a rules check, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons announced he was playing the game under protest.

The turning point in the game came during the bottom of the seventh inning, when the Rangers made three errors, two by shortstop Elvis Andrus and one by first baseman Mitch Moreland to load the bases with nobody out. At that point the Rangers' sinker-baller Sam Dyson relieved Cole Hamels. Josh Donaldson hit a ball just over the glove of Rougned Odor. Odor recovered and threw the ball to second base for a force out but the tying run scored and left runners on first and third. The following batter, José Bautista, would then hit a three-run home run off Dyson to give the Blue Jays a 6–3 lead. He would flip his bat before running the bases, an action widely applauded by Blue Jays fans and several media outlets but considered unsportsmanlike by some observers.[19] The benches would clear afterward, when Edwin Encarnación threw up his hands to the fans in an attempt to discourage any more garbage being thrown on the field and Dyson interpreted that as Encarnación showboating. At the end of the inning, Dyson and Troy Tulowitzki got into an argument after Dyson touched Tulowitzki on the butt when the former was walking back to his dugout, and the benches cleared once again.

Roberto Osuna would record a five-out save, and at the age of 20, became the youngest pitcher in American League history to record a save in the postseason, as well as the second-youngest pitcher in Major League history to do so.[20]

The game marked the third time in the history of the Division Series in which a team lost the first two games at home, but came back to win the series.[21]

Composite line score[edit]

2015 ALDS (3–2): Toronto Blue Jays beat Texas Rangers

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 R H E
Toronto Blue Jays 4 3 5 2 2 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 26 42 3
Texas Rangers 3 1 4 0 2 0 4 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 19 40 5
Total attendance: 247,912   Average attendance: 49,582

References[edit]

  1. ^ Mudhar, Raju (September 26, 2015). "Sportsnet gears up for Blue Jays-NHL bonanza". thestar.com. Toronto Star. Retrieved October 15, 2015. 
  2. ^ "MEDIA ALERT: MLB Postseason Schedule on Sportsnet, October 8 – 11". Sportsnet. Retrieved October 8, 2015. Sportsnet does not have the broadcast rights to Game 3 of the ALDS featuring Houston @ Kansas City. This game is available on the MLB Network. 
  3. ^ Newman, Mark (September 24, 2015). "2015 Postseason Schedule". mlb.com. MLB Advanced Media, LP. Retrieved October 1, 2015. 
  4. ^ "Boxscore: Houston vs. Kansas City, Game 1". MLB.com. October 8, 2015. Retrieved October 8, 2015. 
  5. ^ "Boxscore: Houston vs. Kansas City, Game 2". MLB.com. October 9, 2015. Retrieved October 9, 2015. 
  6. ^ "Boxscore: Kansas City vs. Houston, Game 3". MLB.com. October 11, 2015. Retrieved October 11, 2015. 
  7. ^ "Boxscore: Kansas City vs. Houston, Game 4". MLB.com. October 12, 2015. Retrieved October 12, 2015. 
  8. ^ "Boxscore: Houston vs. Kansas City, Game 5". MLB.com. October 14, 2015. Retrieved October 14, 2015. 
  9. ^ "Boxscore: Texas vs. Toronto, Game 1". MLB.com. October 8, 2015. Retrieved October 8, 2015. 
  10. ^ "Boxscore: Texas vs. Toronto, Game 2". MLB.com. October 9, 2015. Retrieved October 9, 2015. 
  11. ^ "Boxscore: Toronto vs. Texas, Game 3". MLB.com. October 11, 2015. Retrieved October 11, 2015. 
  12. ^ "Boxscore: Toronto vs. Texas, Game 4". MLB.com. October 12, 2015. Retrieved October 12, 2015. 
  13. ^ "Boxscore: Texas vs. Toronto, Game 5". MLB.com. October 14, 2015. Retrieved October 14, 2015. 
  14. ^ "Never say die: Royals rally past Astros in 8th inning to force Game 5". Fox Sports (Houston: Fox Sports Interactive Media, LLC.). Associated Press. October 12, 2015. Retrieved October 15, 2015. 
  15. ^ "Hanser Alberto's RBI single in 14th puts Rangers up 2-0 on Jays in ALDS". ESPN News Services (Toronto: ESPN Internet Ventures). Associated Press. October 13, 2015. Retrieved October 9, 2015. 
  16. ^ "Blue Jays fans petition MLB to open Rogers Centre roof for Game 5". Comcast Sportsnet Toronto. 
  17. ^ "Blue Jays Fans Petition MLB To Open the Roof at Rogers Centre for ALDS Game 5". BaseballFam. 
  18. ^ Kwong, Evelyn (October 20, 2015). "Rogers Centre roof closed for Game 5 of ALDS between Blue Jays and Rangers". Toronto Star (Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd.). Retrieved October 13, 2015. 
  19. ^ McHenry, Britt (October 20, 2015). "Bautista's bat flip made Joey Bats a polarizing name". espn.go.com. Retrieved October 26, 2015. 
  20. ^ "Jose Bautista's 3-run home run caps Blue Jays' rally in wild 7th". ESPN News Services (Toronto: ESPN Internet Ventures). Associated Press. October 15, 2015. Retrieved October 15, 2015. 
  21. ^ Waldstein, David (October 14, 2015). "Irate Blue Jays Fling Rangers Aside and Advance to A.L.C.S.". The New York Times (Toronto: The New York Times Company). Retrieved October 15, 2015. 

External links[edit]

Leave a Reply