Jose Bautista - it's all part of the game

Bautista's 7th inning home run theatrics in Game 5 of the American League Division Series was another example of a player needing to be a heel to show that there is a lot at riding in the postseason - maybe Bautista's bat flip was excessive and wasn't called for, but maybe he was just relieved to come through.

The Texas Rangers had gone up 3-2 in the top half of the 7th inning because Toronto Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin got a little lazy when throwing the ball back to the pitcher - but by hitting a 3-run shot to put his team up 6-3, Bautista was able to let out all his frustrations, effectively saying to his teammates and the Blue Jays fans know that their team wasn't about to go out like some punk itch.

Now Bautista and his team move on to the face the Kansas City Royals in the American League Championship Series - while Josh Hamilton and the Rangers can go into the off-season and do their thing, even if Hamilton is doing so on Angels owner Arte Moreno's dime.

Ranking the 30 MLB teams on my watch - Toronto Blue Jays #18 of 30

The Blue Jays laid an egg in 2013, unable to really get on a good run to get back into contention - it was just a big, jumbled run on mess as Jose Reyes got hurt, Jose Bautista got hurt, R.A. Dickey didn't start the season well, Josh Johnson was terrible, Mark Buehrle was Mark Buehrle, Ricky Romero got the Steve Blass disease, J.P. Arencibia hit 21 home runs but had 18 walks and struck out 148 times, Brandon Morrow got hurt, Melky stopped juicing, Brett Lawrie underperformed, Emilio Bonifacio was a bust, Sergio Santos was decent but he was working his way back from injuries, being hurt for much of 2012, yadda, yadda, yadda.

The Jays were much maligned and will have to go back to the drawing board - Edwin Encarnacion had a fine season, Adam Lind sort of bounced back from a terrible 2012 and Colby Rasmus was quite decent.

Featured autograph - Jose Bautista

Led by Jose Bautista, who has hit nearly 40 home runs in what has clearly been a career year - the Toronto Blue Jays have bashed and smashed their way into a respectable baseball club, despite being obscured in the American League East.

Coming into the 2010 season, Bautista had bounced around as an 'every day' utility player who reminded me of this guy - now Bautista probably will get an opportunity to secure a pretty good contract for himself.

All I can say is when a guy is enjoying a breakthrough season or surpassing what he has done before - it is kind of exciting jumping on the bandwagon, particularly when a particular guy is hitting home runs all over the place.