Ben Verlander claimed Yankees weren't 'talked about enough' and Twitter had a field day

Which sneaky, totally under-the-radar team actually has a good chance to win the World Series this year? Ben Verlander says the New York Yankees, while absolutely, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is 100% trying to curse them!

On Wednesday afternoon -- otherwise a sleepy, mid-spring training day -- Verlander unhooked the gates of hell and let all the little satans loose in his mentions.

In an attempt to note that the New York Yankees have been receiving more undeserved negativity this offseason than usual, he chose to label them as his most "underrated" team heading into 2024. Unfortunately, Verlander also claimed they "[aren't] being talked about enough." That isn't the Yankees' problem. Everyone is talking about them. Everyone always talks about them. It sucks how much everyone talks about them. But, when they talk, they're not appraising them fairly and objectively.

You know the tweet got the type of positive engagement Verlander was hoping for because he quote-tweeted his own initial tweet two more times after posting it, as well as dunking on one reply. That's how you know everyone loved the first tweet, so much so that it made the poster feel very good and not bad.

Yankees haters dunk all over Ben Verlander's "underrated" tweet

So ... was this earnest? It seems like Verlander likes the Yankees rotation's upside more than most.

Or was Justin Verlander's brother simply hoping this season would go off the rails from here, like so many others have, so he could point out this tweet in late August and say, "Mission accomplished! They beefed it again! Another failure to live up to expectations, all thanks to me!"

Safe to say Yankee fans were skeptical of the motivations here from the jump.

The younger Verlander's had it out for the Yankees since long before his brother joined the Astros and cranked up his personal rivalry with the pinstripes. In fact, his distaste for the team dates back as far as the halcyon days of Babe Ruth doing arson.

Whether he was being earnest or cheeky here, he certainly doubled, tripled, and quadrupled down, despite his mentions oozing out all over the home screen for 24 consecutive hours.

Yes. Yes. LOVE it.

Hopefully, the Yankees can be this summer's equivalent of those sneaky, scrappy, unmentioned Diamondbacks -- except with a ring instead of a death rattle at the end of the rainbow.

Hopefully, this remains the final time Verlander mentions the Yankees in 2024 as well, at least until the Bombers go head-to-head with Shohei Ohtani in the World Series and Nestor Cortes Jr. silences him like Juan Soto in BP.