Thursday, the New York Yankees advanced to the American League Divisional Series, where they’ll now take on the Toronto Blue Jays starting on Saturday.
Before Game 1 gets going in Toronto, Yankees manager Aaron Boone met with the media to discuss the matchup between American League East rivals. He also made sure to let everyone know he remembers what Blue Jays analyst Buck Martinez had to say about his team last month.
Aaron Boone on the Yankees: “Contrary to some thoughts up here [in Toronto], we’re a really good team.”
After a follow-up question: “I know Buck [Martinez] had some thoughts, that’s all I was responding to. He’s wrong.” pic.twitter.com/M5v250lk9f
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) October 3, 2025
“I feel like, obviously, the last couple of months really started to play really well,” said Boone. “Contrary to some thoughts up here, we’re a really good team.”
Boone then clarified what he was referring to when a reporter seemed unsure of the reference.
“I know Buck [Martinez] had some thoughts, that’s all I was responding to,” added Boone. “He’s wrong. But it doesn’t matter. We got to go play, and we got to go perform as everyone does at this time of year. We feel really good about our team. We’re playing well, but all that’s in the past now. We got to go play well moving forward.”
In early September, when the Yankees and Blue Jays were battling it out for the AL East lead, Martinez offered a blunt assessment of New York, saying they were “not a good team.”
“You know, the Yankees — they’re not a good team,” Martinez said on Sept. 9. “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. If they don’t hit home runs, they don’t have a chance to win.”
To be fair to Buck, those comments came on the heels of Yankees announcer Michael Kay saying the Toronto Blue Jays weren’t a first-place team back in July.
Which braggadocious announcer will ultimately be proven right? We’ll find out in the coming week.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.