“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” – Arabian Proverb
Baltimore Orioles fans should be thrilled with the Cleveland Indians this postseason as they eliminated the Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays, who are both bitter division rivals of the Orioles.
The Red Sox stole the AL East title from the Orioles, which dropped Baltimore to be a Wild Card team at best. The Blue Jays, another AL East rival of the Orioles, then nagged the Wild Card home field advantage from the O’s in a head-to-head tiebreaker, as Toronto held a 10-9 record against Baltimore during the 2016 regular season.
As a result, the Orioles were forced to travel out of the country to play in the AL Wild Card game this postseason, a game Baltimore lost in 11 innings by a score of 5-2 due to general manager Buck Showalter failing to use his best relief pitcher, Zach Britton, in a do-or-die situation.
It stings a little extra when your division rival ends your season.
Now, it’s time for the Indians to finish the job. Cleveland started off their postseason by facing the Red Sox in the ALDS, a best-of-five game series. The Indians sent off David Ortiz, who notoriously destroyed a phone in Baltimore’s dugout in 2013, off in the most painful way possible – a 3-0 series sweep.
After taking down Boston, Cleveland took on Toronto in the ALCS, a best-of-seven game series. Outfielder Jose Bautista and the Blue Jays continuously made excuses and tried to harass Cleveland as much as possible, as Joey Bats cited hometown calls or “circumstances” as the reason for the Blue Jays falling behind early (2-0) in the series.
Before game five, in a win-or-go-home game for Toronto, Bautista said Cleveland’s rookie pitcher Ryan Merrit would be “shaking in his boots.” The Indians would go on to win game five in a 3-0 shutout, punching their ticket to the World Series in the process. For good measure, Cleveland brilliantly trolled Bautista on Twitter following the AL Pennant victory, posting a picture of Champaign in boots.
The Indians will face either the Chicago Cubs or Los Angeles Dodgers in a best-of-seven game World Series starting on Tuesday, Oct. 25.
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