On Sept. 9, Toronto Blue Jays TV analyst and former manager Buck Martinez said the New York Yankees are “not a good team.”
A month later, New York manager Aaron Boone hasn’t forgotten, and he let the media know when the Yankees touched down in Toronto on Friday ahead of the teams’ American League Division Series matchup.
“Contrary to some thoughts up here, we’re a really good team,” Boone said during a news conference.
“I know Buck had some thoughts,” he later added. “That’s all I was responding to. He’s wrong. But it doesn’t matter, we gotta go play.”
Back on Sept. 9, during the Blue Jays’ game against the Houston Astros, Martinez said, “The Yankees, they’re not a good team. I don’t care what their record is. They have a lot of wild pitches. They make a lot of mistakes in the field. They don’t run the bases very well. … They don’t have a chance to win.”
The remarks came during Toronto’s first game after dropping two of three in New York, the last time the teams played before this weekend. Despite the series defeat, the Blue Jays finished with an 8-5 record against the Yankees this season, including a three-game home sweep to begin July.
But a lot has happened since the teams’ final meeting on Sept. 7, which ended with Toronto two games up on New York in the AL East.
The Yankees went 14-5 after that game, compared to 12-7 for the Blue Jays. Sitting at 86-68 after a loss in Baltimore on Sept. 19, the Yankees won eight straight to end the regular season and finish tied with the Blue Jays atop the division. Toronto won the tiebreaker based on taking the season series.
Game 1 of the ALDS is scheduled for Saturday afternoon. New York will send Luis Gil to the mound while Kevin Gausman gets the ball for Toronto in a battle of right-handers.
