Old front-office pals will square off in ALCS

CLEVELAND — Four words sufficed in the text Indians owner Paul Dolan sent Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro on Monday night, after the Tribe had punched its ticket to face Toronto in the American League Championship Series, starting Friday night at Progressive Field (8 p.m. ET on TBS and, in Canada, Sportsnet and RDS).

“I’m not saying anything,” Dolan wrote, presumably with a smile spread across his face.

Yes, they’ll abstain from any prediction or talking of trash in private. And the truth is it’s hard for those intimately involved with Shapiro’s October homecoming to know what to say in public. For Dolan, for Shapiro, for Tribe president Chris Antonetti, for Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins and for all the other front-office folk caught up in this postseason plot twist, this is all very fun — and all very strange, too.

Game Date Time Matchup TV Gm 1 Oct. 14 8 p.m. TOR @ CLE TBS/SNET/RDS Gm 2 Oct. 15 TBD TOR @ CLE TBS/SNET/RDS Gm 3 Oct. 17 TBD CLE@ TOR TBS/SNET/RDS Gm 4 Oct. 18 TBD CLE @ TOR TBS/SNET/RDS *Gm 5 Oct. 19 TBD CLE@ TOR TBS/SNET/RDS *Gm 6 Oct. 21 TBD TOR @ CLE TBS/SNET/RDS *Gm 7 Oct. 22 TBD TOR @ CLE TBS/SNET/RDS *- If necessary | All times listed ET  • Complete postseason coverageShop for postseason gear: Blue Jays | Indians

It is the nature of Shapiro and any executive worth his reserved parking space to let the focus be on the players — the guys who, you know, actually prompt people to plunk down their hard-earned dollars. That’s how it should be.

But even if it has zero impact on the outcome of the ALCS, the subplot featuring the stewards of these respective AL franchises makes for good pre-series banter, if nothing else.

“When it comes down to playing them for an opportunity to play in the World Series, there’s only one emotion and desire, and that’s to beat them and to win,” Shapiro said. “When all is said and done, we’ll hug and have deep friendships and lasting friendships.”

Shapiro spent nearly a quarter-century with the Indians, rising from unpaid intern to team president, and remaking and reshaping a club whose budget parameters changed drastically when the string of Jacobs Field sellouts ended. Along the way, Shapiro molded an organizational culture that continues to impact the industry in dramatic ways, as …

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