Toronto vs. Texas
Game 1 {{linescore|
David Price took the mound in search of his first playoff win as a starter, and coming into the game he was 0–3 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 Blue 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 Blue Jays would claw back to within a run before Odor hit a line drive 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 {{linescore|
Delino DeShields doubled to lead off the game off of
Marcus Stroman, then scored on
Shin-Soo Choo's single. After a
Prince Fielder single moved Choo to third, catcher
Russell Martin's error on
Mitch Moreland's fielder's choice made it 2–0 Rangers. The Blue Jays cut it to 2–1 on
Josh Donaldson's one-out home run in the bottom of the inning off of
Cole Hamels. In the top of the second,
Rougned Odor drew a leadoff walk, moved to third on a groundout and scored on
Hanser Alberto's sacrifice fly. In the bottom of the inning, with runners on second and third on an error and double, Martin's single and
Kevin Pillar's double scored a run each, tying the game. In the fifth, Pillar hit a leadoff double, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt, and scored on
Ben Revere's single to give the Blue Jays the lead. DeShields singled to lead off the top of the eighth.
Brett Cecil relieved Stroman and allowed a sacrifice bunt, then a strikeout before
Mike Napoli's pinch-hit RBI single tied the game, which went into extra innings. In the top of the 14th,
LaTroy Hawkins allowed three straight two-out singles, the last of which to Alberto scoring a run.
Liam Hendriks relieved Hawkins and allowed an RBI single to DeShields.
Ross Ohlendorf pitched a scoreless bottom of the inning for the save as the Rangers took a 2–0 series lead heading to Arlington. The contest was the fourth longest (in terms of innings played) in Division Series history, and the second-longest in ALDS history.
Game 3 {{linescore| 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 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 to 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 Blue Jays' rally in jeopardy. The next batter in the inning, Tulowitzki, worked Gonzalez to a full count and then on the sixth pitch 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 Blue Jays went to
Aaron Loup for a favorable lefty-lefty matchup which resulted in an RBI groundout by
Rougned Odor. The Blue 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 {{linescore| 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,
Shin-Soo Choo scored on a wild pitch from Dickey to cut the lead to six, but that was the only run Dickey would allow in 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. 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 {{linescore| Prior to the loser-go-home deciding Game 5 between the Blue Jays and Rangers, thousands of fans signed a petition to play the game with the Rogers Centre's retractable roof open. The dome was kept closed due to fears that operating the roof during cold temperatures would cause it to be stuck in the open position. An RBI single by
Prince Fielder in the first and a homer by
Shin-Soo Choo in the third gave the Rangers an early lead over
Marcus Stroman and the Blue Jays. The Blue Jays fought back to tie it with an RBI double by
José Bautista in the third and a home run by
Edwin Encarnación in the sixth. The 53-minute seventh inning was laden with controversy. In the top of the inning, with
Rougned Odor on third and two outs,
Russell Martin was in the process of throwing the ball back to the mound after
Aaron Sanchez delivered a pitch, but the ball hit Choo's bat and bounced toward third base. Observing this, Odor ran home to score the go-ahead run, though the play was initially ruled a dead ball by home plate umpire
Dale Scott and the run was voided. 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 intentionally interfering with the throw back to the pitcher. Since Choo was in the batter's box, interference could not be called, and the play was ruled a live ball. The game was delayed 18 minutes as angry home fans tossed beer cans and garbage onto the field. During this time, a video review from the umpires was on confirming with a rules check, and 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 consecutive errors. A fielding error by
Elvis Andrus, a throwing error by first baseman
Mitch Moreland (that was thrown at Andrus), and a missed catch error, also by Andrus, loaded the bases with nobody out.
Ben Revere proceeded to hit into a
fielder's choice to first, with Moreland throwing to home, where pinch runner
Dalton Pompey slid into catcher
Chris Gimenez to prevent the chance of a double play; after a Texas review, the play stood, and no interference was called. After Rangers sinkerballer
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 next batter, José Bautista, 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. 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 but 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 buttocks when Dyson was walking back to his dugout, and the benches cleared once again. There were no ejections or punches thrown in either bench-clearing incident.
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. 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. This also marked the first time that a Toronto-based team in the
Big Four won a postseason round since the
Maple Leafs' series victory in the first round of the
2004 Stanley Cup playoffs. This game also started a series of bad blood between Toronto and Texas. The next season, in a regular season game in Arlington, Bautista was hit by pitch, then Odor and Bautista got into a fight out at second base after the latter slid into the former's underside to prevent a double play. Odor punched Bautista in the face and was ejected, while Bautista was also ejected for fighting. Several other players were ejected, and several more were suspended with Odor for eight games (later reduced to seven) and Bautista for one. The two teams faced each other in the ALDS again in
2016, and the Blue Jays won in a 3-game sweep; in Game 1 Bautista hit a three-run home run and then emphatically slammed down the bat in celebration.
Composite line score 2015 ALDS (3–2):
Toronto Blue Jays beat
Texas Rangers ==References==