Blue Jays fan favorite Ernie Clement strikes back at Orioles over ludicrous comments

Baltimore Orioles broadcaster Brian Roberts can't escape the ire of fans, and players, for his questionable comments during a broadcast this past weekend. On Saturday afternoon with the Orioles in Toronto to play the Blue Jays, a pick off play at first drew boos from the crowd.

Roberts and his broadcast partner Kevin Brown questioned the intent of the boos - as if they had never heard any other fan base do this ever. Roberts, a former major leaguer with the Orioles, took it a step further and suggested the fans IQ in Toronto, and across Canada, might have something to do with it.

Orioles broadcaster questions Canadian baseball IQ after fans boo pickoff https://t.co/d6LaQgyZar
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 13, 2025

“I got to be real, real careful what I say, but sometimes we have some major questions about the baseball IQ of some Canadians here and there, at times, it felt like maybe they enjoyed, or they knew more about hockey than baseball," said Roberts. There was, as expected, immediate backlash on social media towards Roberts comments and the Blue Jays and their fans got the last laugh as Toronto walked-off the Orioles 5-4.

But the fans weren't the only ones who took exception to the comments. Blue Jays players came to the rescue of their fans as well, including Ernie Clement. Clement has become a fan favourite this season as backed up the home fans when he spoke to reporters the next day.

Blue Jays infielder Ernie Clement told the Toronto Star in response to MASN analyst Brian Roberts questioning Toronto fans' baseball IQ: "We get 40,000 a night here. I mean, they probably get 5,000 a night, so it makes sense that you’d be a little salty about that.”
— Andy Kostka (@afkostka) September 14, 2025

Clement said, "We get 40,000 a night here. I mean, they probably get 5,000 a night, so it makes sense that you’d be a little salty about that.” If Clement hadn't won over fans yet with his on-field production, he's certainly trying to do it with his words. The 29-year-old is having his best season in MLB in what is really only his second season as an everyday player. In his first three seasons he didn't appear in more than 70 games, while last year he got in to 139 contests. This year, through 144 games so far, he's slashed .279/.314/.400 with an fWAR of 2.9 and a defensive fWAR of 11.0.

While the Orioles and the Blue Jays won't see each other for the rest of 2025 - this is great animosity to carry over into their rivalry for 2026.

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