Royals, Blue Jays advance to ALCS

Yeah yeah yeah, good for the Royals or whatever. It's nice that Johnny Cueto decided to show up, and it's crazy to think about how good Kendrys Morales has been for Kansas City this year. But that's not what anybody cares about, so you can watch the full game highlights here if you want.

Let's talk about that Toronto-Texas game.

This was, without a doubt, one of the best playoff games I've ever seen. It had everything. Or at least the seventh inning had everything.

The Rangers got on the board in the first thanks to a leadoff double from Delino DeShields, and in the top of the third Shin-Soo Choo put the Texas up 2-0 with a crowd-silencing solo shot. It was a nice moment for Choo, who is still working off the debt he owes the team for his terrible 2014 campaign.

Jose Bautista doubled home Ben Revere in the bottom half of the inning to put the home team on the board. And then, in the bottom of the sixth, Edwin Encarnacion brought Toronto to life with this impressive shot into the second deck. It was Encarnacion's first career post-season homer.

And then, that seventh inning. Oh my.

Rougned Odor had reached third for the Rangers with two outs, it doesn't matter how. What matters is what ensued. Choo took an Aaron Sanchez 1-2 fastball high to even the count, stepped back to begin his post/pre-pitch routine, and then Russell Martin made a mistake that nobody could have seen coming.

Bless the umpires, because none of that was easy. Home plate umpire Dale Scott called the play dead, but it didn't matter because of course the play wasn't dead. The umpires did everything they could to ensure they made the right call and they absolutely did. Credit to them. The fans at the Rogers Centre obviously weren't happy about it and began throwing things on the field; after their Blue Jays had waited and waited to tie the score and then managed to do so in such a dramatic fashion - to follow that up by losing the lead in such a haphazard and ridiculous fashion would be difficult to take.

But we're barely getting started.

Sanchez would recover to strike out Choo and end the Rangers' half of the seventh. Toronto took their turn by doing Texas a favor and giving the Rangers three consecutive ground balls. The problem is that the Rangers couldn't convert any of them into an out. Elvis Andrus misplayed a slow grounder up the middle; Mitch Moreland's throw to second wasn't handled; Adrian Beltre and Andrus couldn't connect at third base. It loaded the bases for the Blue Jays with nobody out.

Ben Revere grounded into a fielder's choice, with Moreland coming home to get Dalton Pompey on a force out at the dish for the first out.

Pompey slid in a clean attempt to dislodge the ball from Chris Gimenez, but Gimenez held on. With the bases still juiced and one away, Texas manager Jeff Banister asked for the umpires to review the play and call a double play on the Jays for Pompey's slide. Again the umpires conferred, and again they got it right: the slide was fine.

With Texas still leading 3-2, still Toronto did Texas a favor. Josh Donaldson popped up to second baseman Rougned Odor. Except Odor dropped a ridiculously easy catch, Kevin Pillar scored, and the consolation prize for the Rangers was forcing out Revere at second.

The tension had been building. After the release of Encarnacion's home run in the sixth, a sense of displeasure and indignation had arisen in the extended break in play during the top half of the seventh that led to the Rangers re-taking the lead. A series of errors and misplays riled the Rogers Centre, and Banister's challenge of the slide at home plate only stoked the fire.

Which set the table perfectly for Jose Bautista.

You may as well just have ended the game there. It was a knock-out blow that sent Texas onto the ropes, keeping their feet only because that's what a team is supposed to do. Emotionally, physically, psychologically, it's virtually impossible to come back from that kind of an event in a hostile environment.

A pair of scuffles ensued. The first came when Texas pitcher Sam Dyson misinterpreted Encarnacion's attempts at calming the crowd down - to stop throwing things on the field - as at attempt to wind the crowd up further after Bautista's coup de grâce. You can see more of this first confrontation near the end of this clip.

The second came when Troy Tulowitzki was having none of whatever Dyson was selling.

The Blue Jays won, 6-3. And it was beautiful. Both Texas teams were knocked out on Wednesday. But the last thing I'll leave you with is this, because you wouldn't believe the story if there wasn't video. That kid is now a Jose Bautista, and Blue Jays, fan for life.