Blue Jays, Rangers to meet for 1st time since Bautista bat flip

More fireworks in store between 2015 playoff foes?

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Caption: The Toronto Blue Jays host the Texas Rangers on Monday for the first time since a wild fifth game of their American League Division Series in October 2015. (Photos by Getty Images/The Canadian Press)

It's been 201 days since Jose Bautista's "bat flip heard 'round the world" capped a wild American League Division Series win by the Toronto Blue Jays.
But for the Texas Rangers, the memory of that 6-3 loss, and that celebration, is still fresh.

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"It was a game that I probably won't forget for a while for a lot of reasons," Rangers closer Shawn Tolleson told MLB.com. "The seventh inning was just crazy. It was an eventful inning and, yeah, it's a memory that I have and I think about once in awhile. It should be fun.
"The first time playing that team since they beat us, for me, yeah, there's a little bit of a carryover and a little bit of excitement, a little extra juice for those games."

Familiar faces, familiar venue

The two teams are largely unchanged since that last meeting on Oct. 14.
They'll meet again on Monday (7:07 p.m. ET) to begin a four-game series at Rogers Centre, the site of that wild Game 5 finish that featured a more than 50-minute seventh inning and a fan revolt, as well as Bautista's late-game heroics.
The three-run homer and the subsequent bat flip — immortalized in memes(external link) and ugly Christmas sweaters(external link) alike — was the subject of many, many(external link) hot takes throughout the off-season. The Jays went on to the American League Division Series against the Kansas City Royals, the eventual World Series champs.
Bautista made his case for the bat flip when he penned "Are You Flipping Kidding Me?(external link)" in The Players' Tribune, saying he understands how Rangers players must have felt at his show of emotion.

'I'm no angel'

"Some of the Rangers took exception to it, which I can understand. They were on the other side of that emotion. I've been there before. I know how it feels," Bautista wrote. "I've been pissed off on a baseball field plenty of times. I'm no angel. Is it out of disrespect? Of course not. It's because you're upset and want to win so badly.
"That's just part of the game."
But also "part of the game," some argue, is that Bautista violated the unwritten rules of baseball, and the slugger may face some rough treatment by Rangers pitchers at some point during this series.
So what do you think? Are we headed for a showdown(external link) at Rogers Centre this week? Vote in our poll and have your say!

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