Jorge CastilloOct 3, 2025, 08:26 PM ETCloseESPN baseball reporter. Covered the Washington Wizards from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 for The Washington Post before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024.Follow on X
Eduardo Pérez praises Cam Schlittler’s ‘phenomenal’ composure (1:50)Eduardo Pérez joins “First Take” to break down Cam Schlittler’s historic pitching performance in the Yankees’ Game 3 win over the Red Sox. (1:50)
TORONTO — The Yankees touched down in Canada early Friday with some bulletin board material ahead of their American League Division Series showdown against the Blue Jays.
“Contrary to some thoughts up here, we’re a really good team,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said in a news conference Friday.
Boone was referring to a pointed critique that Blue Jays television color analyst and former major leaguer Buck Martinez offered on the Yankees during a game between the Blue Jays and Houston Astros on Sept 9.
The Yankees had taken two of three games from the Blue Jays the previous weekend, but Martinez was unimpressed.
The Yankees went 5-8 against the Blue Jays in the regular season and just 1-6 in Toronto. The head-to-head series proved significant when both clubs finished tied atop the AL East with 94 wins and the Blue Jays won the division because of the season-series tiebreaker.
The first move for both clubs was deciding their starting pitcher for Game 1 on Saturday. The Blue Jays chose veteran right-hander Kevin Gausman. The Yankees picked Luis Gil, the reigning AL Rookie of the Year, over Will Warren, who will be available out of the bullpen. Gil and Gausman last started in their clubs’ regular-season finales Sept. 28.
Gausman, 34, tallied a 3.59 ERA in 193 innings across 32 starts. He allowed 10 runs on 17 hits in 22⅔ innings across four starts against the Yankees.
Gil, 27, missed the first four months of the season because of a lat injury before recording a 3.32 ERA in 11 starts. He faced Toronto on Sept. 9, holding the Blue Jays to one run on three hits over six innings.
“Just feel like he’s ready for this,” Boone said. “He’s in line for it. Decided we want to keep Warren an option in the pen, and we feel like Luis is ready to go.”
Eduardo Pérez praises Cam Schlittler’s ‘phenomenal’ composure (1:50)Eduardo Pérez joins “First Take” to break down Cam Schlittler’s historic pitching performance in the Yankees’ Game 3 win over the Red Sox. (1:50)
Eduardo Pérez joins “First Take” to break down Cam Schlittler’s historic pitching performance in the Yankees’ Game 3 win over the Red Sox. (1:50)
CloseESPN baseball reporter. Covered the Washington Wizards from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 for The Washington Post before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024.Follow on X
“The Yankees, they’re not a good team,” Martinez said. “I don’t care what their record is.”