I agree with those comments.
Bonus points for the Liu et al. paper referenced the Thompson and Wallace (2001) Science paper with the awesome paragraph:
“The notion of blocking and cold air outbreaks being orchestrated on a hemispheric scale was anticipated by Namias and collaborators in early investigations of the so-called “zonal index cycle”, but was abandoned nearly 50 years ago for lack of evidence of statistically significant relations between climate anomalies in the North American and Eurasian sectors ”
As a follow-on suggestion for future research, I would be interested in the origin and type of the blocking episodes found in your climate simulations. The importance of wave-breaking (cyclonic vs. anti-cyclonic) with respect to explosive extratropical cyclone activity and block onset is right up my alley.