Travel bags draped in orange and blue New York Mets designs left Citi Field — where Travis d’Arnaud has played more than half of his Major League games — bound for LAX on Wednesday. But make no mistake, d’Arnaud was returning home.

The matchups suggest a challenge for Rangers starter Martin Perez against the Blue Jays on Sunday night in Game 3 (7 p.m. CT, FOX Sports 1/Sportsnet) of the best-of-five American League Division Series at Globe Life Park.

Ed Lucas was having lunch with friends in Scottsdale, Ariz. Joey Gallo was watching the game in Surprise, but he missed the part where Adrian Beltre went down with a strained lower back in Game 1 of the American League Division Series.

The Cubs will carry 11 pitchers and 14 position players on their National League Division Series roster, which was revealed on Friday. The only change from the NL Wild Card Game roster is that pitcher Jason Hammel was added and outfielder Quintin Berry was removed.

In Toronto for the opener of their ALDS, the Rangers defeated the Blue Jays, 5-3. In Kansas City, the visiting Astros defeated the Royals, 5-2. With the wins by the Rangers and Astros, road teams are now 4-0 in the 2015 postseason.

The Cardinals and Cubs will play a National League Division Series more than a century in the making, and it all gets started tonight at 5:30 p.m. CT on TBS, when the former Red Sox ring-bearers, John Lackey and Jon Lester, oppose each other at Busch Stadium. Game 1 is game on for these two NL Central stalwarts. And if their regular-season series is any indication, we’re in for a treat.

Should Steven Matz prove healthy enough to start Game 4 of the National League Division Series against the Dodgers, which begins tonight in Los Angeles (9:30 p.m. ET on TBS), the Mets will use nothing but starting pitchers who average better than 94 mph on their fastballs.

With two solo homers against Astros right-hander Collin McHugh in Thursday night’s 5-2 loss in Game 1 of the American League Division Series, Royals designated hitter Kendrys Morales became the third player in franchise history to record a multihomer game in the postseason.

As dramatic as their late-season series as Wrigley Field was, the intrigue is just getting started for the Cubs and Cardinals.

Road teams in the 2015 postseason are off to their best start in more than a century.

A riveting NL Division Series loaded with big names and intrigue opens tonight with the Mets sending Jacob deGrom out to engage three-time NL Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw at Dodger Stadium.

There likely will be a level of discomfort for Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina, who has torn ligaments in his left thumb, but he is determined to play against the Cubs and is on the 25-man roster for the National League Division Series that begins tonight at 5:30 p.m. CT on TBS.

They’ve played more than 2,300 times, but the Cubs and Cardinals have never played any games that mean more than the ones they’re going to play over the next week. Yet along the way the Cubs and Cardinals have built one of baseball’s greatest rivalries, with passion on the field and in the stands whether playing for first place or bragging rights alone.

When Jake Arrieta and Matt Carpenter were teammates at TCU, they created their own decathlon, including events such as ping pong, foosball and basketball. Since the Cubs acquired Arrieta in July 2013, the two have found themselves going head to head in the National League Central.

Signups are underway for the MLB.TV Postseason Package and Postseason.TV now that the postseason field is finally set. Anywhere from 20 to 33 games (there were 25 last year) are about to be played on the way to a trophy presentation at the 111th World Series.

Emotions ran high and tempers flared in the seventh inning on Wednesday night, when Cubs ace Jake Arrieta was hit by a pitch from Pirates reliever Tony Watson.

The last time Prince Fielder was in the postseason, he was sitting in the visiting clubhouse at Fenway Park, asked about the pain of the Tigers’ American League Championship loss to the Red Sox on a go-ahead grand slam in Game 6.