Toronto’s Jose Bautista took a punch to the face from Rangers infielder

Whew, it’s a good thing that the Blue Jays and Rangers aren’t in the same division, because they don’t need to be facing off very often.

The teams played a contentious playoff series last fall (punctuated by Jose Bautista’s epic bat flip), and there are a lot of angry people on both sides Sunday after the teams brawled.

The Rangers won 7-6 and you might think it was a TKO after you see the brouhaha that broke out in the eighth inning.

Bautista’s slide into second base was late and hard. That upset Texas’ Rougned Odor. The two got into it and Odor landed a hard punch.

Both benches cleared after the fisticuffs started.

Bautista didn’t make any friends in Kansas City during the American League Championship Series after pretending to give a ball to a fan then pulling it back.

Still, I don’t think he deserved that punch from Odor. Bautista was probably upset about being hit by a pitch earlier in the inning.

This story was originally published May 15, 2016 at 6:18 PM.