The 2016 American League Division Series (ALDS) were two best-of-five game series to determine the participating teams in the 2016 American League Championship Series of Major League Baseball. The three divisional winners (seeded 1–3) and the winner of a one-game Wild Card playoff played in two series. The divisional winners were the Texas Rangers in the American League West with the first seed by virtue of having the best record in the American League, the Cleveland Indians in the American League Central with the second seed, and the Boston Red Sox in the American League East with the third seed. The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles in the Wild Card Game, earning the fourth seed.
The top two seeds had home-field advantage, and the top seed was matched against the lowest seed. The matchups were:
- (1) Texas Rangers (West Division champions) versus (4) Toronto Blue Jays (Wild Card Winner): Blue Jays win series 3–0.
- (2) Cleveland Indians (Central Division champions) versus (3) Boston Red Sox (East Division champions): Indians win series 3–0.
TBS televised all the games in the United States, with Sportsnet, a property of Toronto Blue Jays owner Rogers Communications, airing the games in Canada using the TBS feeds.[2][3] The Blue Jays and Indians both swept their respective opponents in three games to advance to the ALCS.
The Indians defeated the Blue Jays in the ALCS, then lost the 2016 World Series to the National League champion Chicago Cubs.
- ^ a b "Wild Card and Division Series Umpires". Close Call Sports & Umpire Ejection Fantasy League. October 3, 2016.
- ^ Newman, Mark (August 24, 2016). "To the races: MLB postseason schedule announced". MLB.com. MLB Advanced Media. Archived from the original on September 17, 2017. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ^ Normandin, Marc (August 23, 2016). "2016 MLB playoff schedule released". SBNation.com. SB Nation. Retrieved August 23, 2016.