Friday 4: Jays-Texas, Sox-Tribe, LA-Nats, SF-Cubs!

Thursday was all about Division Series fanfare, red, white and blue bunting, a road thrashing by the Blue Jays over the Rangers and a confident opening statement by the Indians over the Red Sox at home.

There was enough drama, intensity and excellence on the mound and in the batter’s box to get those baseball taste buds primed as the game’s brightest strobes continue to fire up.

But Thursday was an American League appetizer. Next up is the Friday Four, a Major League Baseball postseason-palooza.

And you can watch them all: Blue Jays at Rangers at 1 p.m. ET on TBS and SportsNet in AL Division Series Game 2, Red Sox at Indians at 4:30 p.m. ET on TBS in their Game 2, plus National League Division Series Game 1s featuring the Dodgers at Nationals at 5:30 p.m. ET on FS1 and the Giants at Cubs at 9 p.m. ET on FS1 for a sumptuous dessert.

In other words, it’s October’s first full, delicious four-course meal, with the beginning of both NL Division Series and a pair of quick-turn rematches in the AL.

“It’s what you play this game for,” said Nationals ace Max Scherzer, the NL Cy Young Award contender who’s matched up against three-time Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers in Game 1 on Friday.

“You don’t measure yourself against the worst; you measure yourself against the best. … This is something you always remember. You want to be in these situations, because this is too much fun, to be able to go up and face a team and pitcher of this caliber.”

The same can be said for the memorable matchups in all four Friday games, but first a little primer on Thursday’s action.

The Blue Jays flat-out ambushed the Rangers on their home turf, taking Game 1 with a 10-1 victory at Globe Life Park. Toronto starter Marco Estrada was brilliant through 8 1/3 innings and the Blue Jays knocked Cole Hamels out early. Now, Toronto has the early advantage in the best-of-five set.

But these are the Rangers, who had the best record in the AL. They’re not going down easily.

“Given how our club has played all year long, and we’ve been in these type of situations before … we’ve come back and played well after these type of games,” manager Jeff Banister said. “And with the veteran group that we have in there, I don’t worry about the collateral damage in a game like this.”

The same can be said for Boston, which dropped a 5-4 decision to Cleveland in the opener of that ALDS on Thursday. But the loss shouldn’t get the Sox down.

This is, after all, a club with quite a few players who won the World Series for manager John Farrell in 2013 and has blossomed this season with a young, potent offense and resilient pitching staff. All of this under the watch of franchise icon David Ortiz, who is in his last October hurrah at 40 years old.

The Red Sox …

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