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Yankees Hal Steinbrenner sends direct message to the Blue Jays
Photo credit: Jessica Alcheh-Imagn Images
The Toronto Blue Jays have received tons of praise from all across the baseball world, but it's that much sweeter when your AL East rival New York Yankees chime in as well, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner spoke highly of the World Series runner-ups.
Steinbrenner was specifically asked on their style of play, and how it resulted in them beating his Yankees in the ALDS.
Hal Steinbrenner tips his cap to the Blue Jays.
Adam Laskaris of BlogTo reported on the Yankees owner being open and honest about his thoughts towards the Blue Jays and their ALDS matchup.
Steinbrenner was specifically asked about the Blue Jays contact-first style that outpaced the Yankees slugging style of hitting, but Steinbrenner made sure to not put the Blue Jays in a box.
"I think balance in life is everything. [The Blue Jays] slug the ball too. It's not just putting balls in play. They definitely slug the ball. Hitting strikes hard, particularly in the air, not that you're trying to hit it over the fence, but in the air, statistically speaking, the results speak for themselves, you have a better chance of success when you do that."-Steinbrenner
The Blue Jays had a good mix of slugging and contact hitting all season, and it carried into the postseason. Steinbrenner made sure to voice how good they were all-around as a baseball team and explained that it was the reason why they won, it wasn't one style versus another, it was one baseball team being better than the other.
"They definitely played better than us, they slugged better than us, they hit the ball and put it in play better than us, and they pitched better than us, and that's why they won."-Steinbrenner
The Blue Jays have managed so well under Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins at the helm, and it will be interesting to see how they improve going into 2026, and if the Yankees can adapt to them.
| POLL | ||
NOVEMBRE 26 | 1025 ANSWERS Yankees Hal Steinbrenner sends direct message to the Blue Jays Will the Toronto Blue Jays finish ahead of the New York Yankees in the AL East standings next season? | ||
| Yes | 899 | 87.7 % |
| No | 126 | 12.3 % |
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