Rivalry Growing Between Yankees vs. Blue Jays

 Toronto Blue Jays Sportsnet broadcaster Buck Martinez definitely gave the New York Yankees some bulletin board material heading into their much-anticipated best-of-5 AL Divisional Series.

Back on September 9th during a Blue Jays game at Rogers Centre against the Houston Astros, Martinez noticed on the out-of-town scoreboard that the Detroit Tigers were defeating the Yankees and Martinez didn’t hold back when he stated “You know, the Yankees, they’re not a good team. I don’t care about their record. They have a lot of bad pitches. They make a lot of mistakes in the field. They don’t run the bases very well.”

Shortly after New York eliminated the Boston Red Sox in the AL Wild Card Series and advanced to play Toronto in the Divisional Series, Yankee manager Aaron Boone brought up what he thought about those comments which back then were brought to his attention.

“Contrary to some thoughts up here,” we’re a really good team,” Boone said. “I know Buck had some thoughts. He’s wrong. But it doesn’t matter, we gotta go play.”

A definite low point for the Yankees came back in July when in seven games that month at Rogers Centre in Toronto, they made 11 errors and won only one of those seven.  However, the Yankees had a strong finish as they ended up winning their final eight games and going 9-1 in their last 10 games for a 94-68 overall record which had them right behind Toronto for second in the American League East Division. Both teams actually finished with the same record but Toronto fared better in their games against New York which gave them the division.

This Postseason Only Amplifies the Yankees-Blue Jays Rivalry

Blue Jays vs. Yankees First Ever Playoff Matchup 

Since the Toronto Blue Jays became a major league team in 1977, they have played the Yankees in 738 regular-season games, but until now have never gone head-to-head in the playoffs.

The newly crowned American League East Division champs Blue Jays, will have their hands full against a playoff-experienced Yankees team who last year went to the World Series before losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Yankees head into the AL Divisional Series full of momentum after defeating the Red Sox 4-0 in a decisive Game 3 of the AL Wildcard to end Boston’s season.

“They’re obviously playing really good baseball,” Blue Jays outfielder George Springer said. “They can hit homers with the best of them. They can kind of make an inning snowball on you. They have an extremely hard bullpen and four or five starters who know what to do.”

The Jays, who won their first playoff game since 2016, are a confident team full of talented players such as first baseman Vladimir Guerrero, Springer and pitcher Kevin Gausman to name just a few as this team is hungry and not afraid of a more playoff experienced Yankees team who have some big thumpers in the likes of Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Cody Bellinger and an emerging star in Ben Rice. 

During regular season play, the Jays won their season series 8-5 against the Yankees, which of course included that June 30-July 3rd four-game Jays sweep at Rogers Centre.

Yankees Broadcaster Michael Kay vs. Sportsnet Blue Jays Broadcaster Jamie Campbell

Back in early July, around the time at Rogers Centre when the Jays swept New York in that four game series and Toronto took over first place in the American League East Division, a rivalry seemed to be developing between legendary Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay and Jays Sportsnet announcer Jamie Campbell.

Prior to the Jays completing that sweep, Kay stated on his ESPN New York Radio Show,

“The Blue Jays are not a first-place team, I’m sorry. They’re not playing great baseball.”

Needless to say, those comments didn’t go over well with Blue Jays fans and after Toronto completed the sweep, Campbell was seen on television making sweeping motions with the broom and took a verbal shot at Kay.

“We have been asked about the broom relentlessly these last couple of days, so here it is because we just witnessed something that has not been done in the history of the Blue Jays,” Campbell said. “Sweeping all four from the Yankees here in Toronto. First time. And I can think of a certain Yankee broadcaster in fact who is going to have to go on his show tomorrow and admit that the Blue Jays are a first-place team because the standings prove it.”

Not surprisingly, Kay was not too impressed with Campbell waving the broom as he commented, “Imagine of (YES Network studio analyst) Jack Curry was waving a broom on the Yankees postgame show,” Kay said. “He would probably be called into the office and shortly fired after that.

“Now I love Toronto. It is a cosmopolitan city. It is one of the greatest cities in the world, for me. You’re waving a broom on a postgame show, you are turning it into Mayberry RFD. I just don’t get it. I don’t understand it. You should be proud of the fact you are in first place. And one final thing: You shouldn’t hang on the rim three minutes into the third quarter of a basketball game. Feel good about sweeping the Yankees. Feel good about winning all these games in a row. Feel good about being in first place. But to hang on the rim this early? Let’s hang on the rim in October. That’s when you hang on the rim.”

Well, it’s now October and this time these two teams are playing for real, with the Blue Jays taking a 2-0 series lead heading into game 3.