The upcoming Game 1 of the ALDS between the Yankees and Blue Jays is already buzzing — and if you followed their regular-season clashes, you know why. From fiery broadcast booth commentary to heated on-field moments, this matchup is starting to feel a lot like the Dodgers-Padres rivalry in the NL. And one of the more memorable shots came back in early September, when Blue Jays analyst Buck Martinez didn’t hold back.

Interestingly, the comment from Martinez came when the Blue Jays were not even facing the Yankees and instead had a matchup against the Houston Astros at Rogers Centre in Toronto. And just as the television color commentator of the Toronto Blue Jays was informed of the Yankees being down in their own game against the Detroit Tigers, Martinez went in. “The Yankees, they don’t have a good team,” he said during a break in the action in the seventh inning. “I don’t care what their record is. They throw too many wild pitches, they make mistakes in the field, and they’re not good on the bases. If they’re not hitting home runs, they’ve got no shot to win.”

But now, with the Yankees punching their ticket to the ALDS, Aaron Boone hasn’t missed the chance to fire back right before lining up against the Jays. “Contrary to some thoughts up here [in Toronto], we’re a really good team… I know Buck [Martinez] had some thoughts, that’s all I was responding to. He’s wrong,” Boone responded during a presser before Game 1.

Well, you could look at Boone’s response as more of a pep talk than anything else. Yes, Martinez’s shot at the Yankees was bold, especially considering how tight the AL East race was down the stretch. At the time of the comment, the Yankees’ win-loss record read 80-64, and they were a fundamentally unsound team. They had logged the seventh-most errors in Major League Baseball this season (82) as well as the ninth-most wild pitches (47).

To top that, they had made a lot of mental mistakes on the base paths and routine plays. While that’s that, the Yankees were right on Toronto’s heels for most of September, and it actually took until the very last day of the regular season for the Blue Jays to finally clinch the division. And that left New York to battle through a best-of-three Wild Card series against the Red Sox.

Now, as the Yankees get their shot to silence the critics in the ALDS, Boone might just lean on Martinez’s words as fuel for his guys. But while the Yankees are still looking to prove Martinez wrong, the Blue Jays can already say they’ve had their own laugh. All thanks to comments made earlier by Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay.

The Yankees are following the Blue Jays’ route

If you remember, back in July, Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay stirred things up with some sharp commentary on his radio show. He flat-out said the Blue Jays “are not a first-place team” and that they were “not playing great baseball.” The comments landed with extra weight because they came right after Toronto’s 12–5 win over the Yankees. That victory brought the Jays to within a single game of the division lead.

And guess what, at the time, the numbers seemed to back up Kay’s argument… The Jays had scored just four more runs than they’d allowed all season, while the Yankees boasted a dominant +105 run differential.

But baseball doesn’t always follow the math, and the Blue Jays wasted no time making their statement. They went out and swept the Yankees, a response so decisive that Kay was forced to soften his stance. Suddenly, he was backpedaling: “I was complimenting them, that they’re exceeding what the numbers say.”

Hence, the Blue Jays have already made one Yankee announcer eat his words. Can New York now turn the tables and do the same with Buck Martinez’s jab?