Nine years ago Thursday, Rougned Odor punched Jose Bautista in the face.

Until the Texas Rangers won the World Series in 2023, this was the best moment in Rangers’ baseball history. Sure, they went to back-to-back World Series in 2010 and 2011, but they fell to the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals, respectively.

After losing in the Wild Card game to the Orioles in 2012, the Rangers missed the postseason in 2013 (due to losing Game 163) and 2014. With an 88-74 record in 2015, they finished at the top of the American League West, matching up with the Toronto Blue Jays, where our story begins.

In this article, we’ll look at the rivalry between the Rangers and the Blue Jays in the mid-2010s.

With a 93-69 record, the Blue Jays finished first in the American League East, ending a 22-year playoff drought since the 1993 World Series. Thanks to their record, the Blue Jays started the series with home-field advantage.

Game 1 was a 5-3 loss for the Jays. Bautista hit a home run in the bottom of the sixth to make it a 4-3 game, but Odor answered with a home run of his own the next time the Rangers were up to bat.

It went from bad to worse in a marathon of a game in Game 2. After nine innings, the game was tied at four, and it headed to extra innings. In the top of the 14th, the Rangers scored twice and the Jays were unable to answer, pushing the Jays to the brink in the best-of-five series.

The series shifted to Arlington for Game 3, as the Rangers had a chance to sweep the series. That didn’t happen, as the Jays scored five runs through six innings, with the Rangers scoring one lonely run in the bottom of the seventh. The biggest hit by far was Troy Tulowitzki’s three-run blast in the top of the sixth.

In Game 4, the Jays scored three runs before the Rangers even had a chance to bat, as Josh Donaldson and Chris Colabello each hit a home run in the top of the first. Kevin Pillar hit another home run in the top of the second, before the Jays added three more runs in the top of the third. In the end, the Jays won 8-4, setting up a winner-takes-all Game 5 in Toronto.

Game 5, Toronto, October 14, 2015. This game went down as one of the most memorable Blue Jays’ games of my generation. The Rangers opened the scoring as Prince Fielder scored a runner thanks to a fielder’s choice. Shin-Soo Choo hit a home run in the top of the third to make it a 2-0 lead.

There was still fight left in the Blue Jays, as Bautista hit a two-out double to cash Ben Revere to cut the lead in half. In the bottom of the sixth, Edwin Encarnacion hit a clutch solo home run to tie the game at two, then, it happened.

In the top of the seventh, Odor reached with a lead-off single. A sac bunt and a ground out moved Odor to third with two outs. With Choo at the plate, Blue Jays’ catcher Russell Martin threw the ball off Choo’s bat, allowing Odor to come in to score. After a lengthy review, the run was counted, and the Jays were down 3-2 with nine outs remaining.

Game 5 only got weirder, though. Martin reached on an error by Elvis Andrus. Then, Pillar reached thanks to a fielder’s choice error to put two on with no outs. A third Jays’ runner reached on an error to load the bases with no outs.

The Rangers got their first out as Revere hit a ground ball, with Dalton Pompey being thrown out at home after pinch running for Martin. Next up was Josh Donaldson, who hit a bloop that scored a run and also got the Rangers their second out.

Next up was Jose Bautista, and well, we all know what happened next. The one-one from Dyson, Bautista with a drive, deep left field, no doubt about it, 6-3 Blue Jays. There’s one word to describe this home run: pandemonium.

Bautista hit the most well-known bat flip, Rangers’ pitcher Sam Dyson misconstrued Encarnacion’s gestures when he was telling the crowd to calm down, the Rangers got salty, and the benches cleared.

The Jays coasted to a win on the backs of Aaron Sanchez and Roberto Osuna, with the latter striking out four of the five batters to pick up the five-out save, sending the Jays to the American League Championship Series. They fell in six games to the Royals.

The Rangers visited Toronto in early May, winning the first at Rogers Centre before dropping the next three, the first two losses being in walk-off fashion. Nothing exciting happened in this series, but the teams played a series in Arlington just over a week later.

Toronto took the first game of the series by a score of 5-0. Nothing interesting happened in this game. After storming back with three runs in the top of the ninth to tie the second game, the Rangers picked up a walk-off win of their own, but again, nothing happened.

It took until the series final for the fireworks to be lit. After a big bottom of the seventh by the Rangers that put them up 7-6, they finally enacted their revenge on Bautista, plunking him with a 96 mph fastball. Encarnacion flew out, with Justin Smoak up next. He grounded out into a double play, with Bautista sliding hard into Odor.

The Rangers’ second baseman didn’t like it, pushed Bautista, and punched him in the face, wobbling Bautista but not knocking him down. I sadly couldn’t find the Sportsnet call of the incident, I’m sorry.

Everything about this was cheap: waiting until Bautista’s final at bat against your team and throwing a punch when no one expects it. But as the old saying goes…

The Rangers went on to finish first in the American League thanks to a 95-67 record. The Jays went 89-73, finishing in the first Wild Card spot and hosting the Baltimore Orioles. Encarnacion hit a walk-off homer in the 11th, setting up a rematch against the Rangers.

Unlike the year before, the Blue Jays took Game 1 as they pummelled the Rangers 10-1 in Arlington. They scored five runs in the top of the third, another two in the top of the fourth, and added three in the top of the ninth, with Bautista hitting a three-run shot in the win.

Game 2 of the series was closer. The Jays took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second thanks to Tulowitzki’s two-run home run. Ian Desmond hit an RBI single to cut the lead in half, but the Jays added three in the top of the fifth as Pillar, Ezequiel Carrera, and Encarnacion all hit solo home runs. The Rangers added two in the bottom of the eighth, but it wasn’t enough.

The Jays had a chance to sweep the best team in the American League East that season. On top of that, they’d had an opportunity to close it out at Rogers Centre, which would be fitting.

Game 3 was on Sunday, October 9. The Rangers scored first in the top of the first, but the Jays saw Encarnacion and Martin hit home runs to make it 3-1. In the top of the third, the Rangers cut the lead to within one, before the Jays gained a three-run lead in the bottom of the third.

Odor hit a two-run home run in the top of the fourth to make it a one-run lead again, before Mitch Moreland hit a double to score Odor and another Ranger, making it 6-5 in favour of the Rangers. Fortunately for the Jays, they were able to get the game-tying run in the bottom of the sixth, as Jonathan Lucroy allowed a passed ball, eventually sending this game to extra innings.

In the top half of the 10th, Jared Hoying and Carlos Gomez struck out, and Desmond flew out, giving the Jays a chance to walk it off. Donaldson hit a lead-off double to put the pressure on. Matt Bush, who was the pitcher who hit Bautista to kick-start the brawl, intentionally walked Encarnacion. Bush struck out Bautista, bringing up Martin to the plate.

Martin hit a grounder to shortstop Andrus, but on the turn, Odor committed a throwing error. Moreland couldn’t find the ball at first, and Donaldson came in from second to score the game-tying run. The “Donaldson Dash” play often gets overlooked when looking at the mid-2010s Blue Jays teams, but oh my, was there ever elation when he came in to score.

The Jays fell in the ALCS again and missed the postseason for the next three seasons until they played a Wild Card series against the Rays. Since this win, the Jays have only had one postseason victory, taking a game from Cleveland in the 2016 ALCS. As for the Rangers, they missed the next six postseasons before eventually winning it all in 2023. It was a rather fluky win, as they proceeded to finish with a sub .500 record in 2024.