New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone has not forgotten what Toronto Blue Jays analyst and former major leaguer Buck Martinez said about them last month.
“The Yankees, they’re not a good team,” Martinez said during a Sept. 9 broadcast. “I don’t care what their record is.”
Now, Boone is making sure that it’s present on everyone’s mind as the two division rivals square off in the ALDS.
“Contrary to some thoughts up here, we’re a really good team,” Boone said. “I know Buck had some thoughts. That’s all I was responding to. He’s wrong, but it doesn’t matter. We’ve got to go play, and we’ve got to go perform as everyone does this time of year.”
The Yankees went on an eight-game win streak to end the regular season, but they lost the AL East title to the Blue Jays via the tiebreaker. The finest of margins relegated the Bronx Bombers to a best-of-three Wild Card Series as hosts to the Boston Red Sox, while the Blue Jays were awarded the No. 1 overall seed in the American League and homefield advantage until the World Series. New York went on to become the first team ever to overturn a 1-0 series deficit in the AL Wild Card Series to defeat the Boston Red Sox in three games to set up the tense matchup between it and Toronto.
This is the first time ever that the two teams are meeting in the playoffs. The Blue Jays won eight of 13 regular-season meetings this year before thumping the Yankees 10-1 in Game 1 at Rogers Centre.
“[This is] something our guys relish and look forward to,” Boone said. “I’m sure it’s going to be a fun environment to be involved in.”
