Welcome back! Edwin Encarnacion and Matt Wieters received huge ovations in their returns

Monday night's action featured a couple of old fan favorites making their returns. In Toronto, Edwin Encarnación played his first game at Rogers Centre as a visitor, and down in Baltimore, Matt Wietersfaced the team that drafted him 10 years ago. Until 2017, he had never played a single professional game outside the Orioles' organization.
Encarnacion spent his first 4 1/2 seasons in the Majors with the Reds, but his 2009 trade to the Blue Jays helped kick his career in gear. He made three All-Star teams, helped snap the longest postseason drought in baseball and left Toronto third on its all-time home run list with 239. That total doesn't even include his most memorable blast, the 2016 Wild Card walk-off that sent Canadian baseball fans into a frenzy.

The Blue Jays' faithful remembered everything that Encarnacion did for them, showering him with applause during a pregame tribute, and then again in his first at-bat on Monday.

Indians manager Terry Francona was hardly surprised by the ovation. "To do what he did here for six years, he put up some pretty monstrous numbers. And he's such a good kid," Francona said to MLB.com's Jordan Bastian. "Yeah, it is nice to see people react like that."
Meanwhile, the Orioles tipped their hats to Wieters, who went from the fifth overall pick in the 2007 MLB Draft to a four-time All-Star behind the plate as the O's ended a lengthy postseason drought of their own. So while Wieters warmed up Gio González, the scoreboard at Camden Yards aired a short tribute to the catcher.

The Orioles fans gave Wieters an ovation after the video, and they gave him a second round of applause when he entered the batter's box in the third inning. He was more than happy to acknowledge the roar of the crowd. "I knew O's fans aren't going to stop until you give them a little bit of an acknowledgement. So I just wanted to say thank you for my time here and get on with the at-bat, get on with the game," said Wieters to MLB.com's Jamal Collier. "It was a good crowd, as always, here. I was very appreciative."

The two played well in their returns, as Wieters went 1-for-4 with a double, and Encarnacion went 2-for-3 with a walk. Both home teams ended up winning, though, with the Orioles beating the Nationals, 6-4, and the Blue Jays prevailing over the Indians, 4-2.
Encarnacion and Wieters might be considered foes now, but they will clearly always share a close connection with both fan bases.