Aaron Boone Defends Yankees From Blue Jays Criticism

The rivalry between the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays has been played on and off the field. Buck Martinez, the Toronto broadcaster, ripped the New York Yankees at the end of the season, proclaiming that they are "not a good team."

"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." - Blue Jays commentator Buck Martinez calls down the thunder 🔥 pic.twitter.com/hlnIpP0ygr
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 10, 2025

Coming off a big win against the Boston Red Sox, Aaron Boone finally responded to that. The skipper, of course, disagreed with this blunt assessment. At first, he kept it vague.

Aaron Boone Responds

"Contrary to some thoughts up here, we're a really good team," Boone said, according to Jorge Castillo of ESPN.

Boone finally divulged who he had been talking about later on, bringing it back to the topic of the Blue Jays broadcaster.

"I know Buck had some thoughts," Boone continued. "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. We feel really good about our team. We're playing well. All that's in the past now. We've got to play well moving forward."

Martinez's comments reflected what he had seen from the Yankees all year. That was Boone's squad going 5-8 against the Blue Jays. That losing record was a result of sloppy play, poor glove work, and a handful of meltdowns from the bullpen, notably from Luke Weaver and Devin Williams, the best the Yankees are supposed to have.

Of course, if the regular season dictated the postseason, the Yankees would not have made it by the Red Sox. Winning two straight elimination games, the Yankees held off a Boston team that they had not beaten in October since their manager hit a walk-off home run in 2003, which sent them to the World Series.

That series had also been centered on a war of words. This time, it was Cam Schlittler, the budding star, responding to big social media accounts going after his mom.

Schlittler spoke about it after his historic outing.

"Some of the bigger accounts they got over there, I was able to see, unfortunately," he said, according to Brendan Kuty of The Athletic. "I don't really check my phone much before the game, but there was some stuff that was brought to my attention. Don't need to give them the attention they're looking for, but just channel it and made sure I took it in the right way."

New York Yankees third baseman Ryan Mcmahon pitcher Cam Schlittle — Oct 2, 2025; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees third baseman Ryan McMahon (19) reacts with pitcher Cam Schlittler (31) after catching a popup in the eighth inning against the Boston Red Sox during game three of the Wildcard round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Using bulletin board material is something the Yankees have avoided in the Boone era. The manager and team have remained stoic, not allowing outside noise to penetrate their walls.

These Yankees are playing with extra flair, and so far, responding to the noise has worked. Under Boone, they have only won series against the American League Central in the playoffs, being exclusively bounced by rivals in the Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, and Houston Astros. If a little extra motivaiton is what they need, they should do whatever they can to snap the title drought.

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