Strangers hugged, there was dancing in the aisles and patrons dove onto the grubby Rogers Centre concourse floor to replay their favourite catches as joyous Blue Jays fans celebrated their team’s 10-1 rout of the Yankees on Saturday afternoon.

Toronto’s pent-up playoff energy rose with the day’s summerlike temperatures. It began early Saturday morning when hundreds of Jays fans rushed to a Rogers store at Yonge and Dundas streets for a shot at 250 free tickets to the afternoon tilt between Toronto and New York in the first game of the American League division series.

Ali Mohammed and Bobbi-Jo Barnes were first in line to snag free Jays tickets on Saturday morning. Raju Mudhar/Toronto Star The Star

The excitement continued to grow as the 4:08 p.m. first pitch approached with multipl

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