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Canseco, Blue Jays Call out 'Cowardly' Rangers and Odor after Punch to Bautista

We can only hope Canseco's former teams meet again in October.

World War III broke out in Arlington on Sunday, when the Rangers and Blue Jays concluded their three-game set with fireworks.

There's a history here, of course. Jose Bautista emphatically ended the Rangers' season with a mammoth seventh-inning homer and bat flip in Game 5 of last year's ALDS that captivated the baseball world. The Rangers were salty, but didn't exact "revenge" in any of the prior six games the two teams had played since. That changed Sunday in the seventh meeting between the two rivals this season.

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Bautista, public enemy No. 1 in Texas, was drilled by a Matt Bush heater in the eighth inning. Moments later, he slid into second base late, a move that irked Rangers second baseman heavyweight boxer Rougned Odor. So Odor did what any rational player would do: he clocked Bautista with a vicious right hand that brought back memories of Nolan Ryan feeding Robin Ventura.

Kevin Pillar and all hell broke loose, triggering a benches-clearing brawl, and a Jesse Chavez pitch to Prince Fielder's leg in retaliation.

Safe to say, the Blue Jays weren't happy with the foul Odor.

Zero respect for Odor. Never had respect for him, never will.

— Marcus Stroman (@MStrooo6)May 15, 2016

Bautista called the Rangers cowardly for waiting until his last at-bat of their final meeting against each other this regular season to exact retribution. He also questioned the team's leadership and said the incident showed Texas' true colours.

Josh Donaldson, who also entered the melee, said the Rangers took the easy way out. Manager John Gibbons, who was ejected earlier in the contest and came back on the field during the brawl, echoed a similar sentiment:

It's ugly and unfortunate. To me, it was gutless. We played seven games (this year). The other 29 teams, if they've got an issue they come at you right away. To wait until the end, just tells me something about them. I've been around this game a long time and it just surprised me the way it happened. If what happened last year bothered them that much why did it take so long for them to bring it up?

Hey, even Jose Canseco got in on the action. Don't mind Canseco's spelling, it doesn't take away from the message.

What a cheap shot on batista by odor..batista should break that punk in half.he should beat his ass prison style..week sucker punch

— Jose Canseco (@JoseCanseco)May 16, 2016

Well, we can only hope Canseco's former teams meet again in October.