Yankees Broadcaster Seems To Suggest Blue Jays Are Cheating At Home Ballpark
The Toronto Blue Jays played the New York Yankees a lot better at home than they did in the Bronx. And according to YES Network broadcaster Michael Kay, there might be a reason for that.
During Wednesday night's broadcast, Kay seemed to insinuate the Blue Jays were cheating — suggesting they are a "completely different team" at the Rogers Centre than they are on the road.
The Jays won two of the three games this week against the Yanks, handing New York its first series loss of the season. The Yankees got the better of the Blue Jays in NYC earlier this month.
(John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports)
Michael Kay Hints At Unfair Home Field Advantage For Blue Jays
The Blue Jays did an excellent job against Yankees starting pitcher Carlos Rodon — running him up to 101 pitches across only four innings on Tuesday. They fouled off a whopping 27 of those pitches. Kay took issue with the fact that Toronto didn't show the same plate discipline when the teams played in New York.
"You know what’s curious to me, though? We just saw the Blue Jays in the Bronx, and what we watched was a completely different team than the one we’ve seen here in Toronto," Kay said. "The one in New York did not foul off the amount of pitches this team does — it’s like it’s a different team in this ballpark. Now, home field advantage, there is something to that, but why would it manifest itself in the ability to foul off tough pitches?
"You can understand it if the next time you see them, after you saw them in The Bronx, is a month and a half later, but this is a week later, and it’s a completely different approach and a completely different team."
Of course, Kay didn't come right out and directly say the Blue Jays were cheating, but fans picked up what he was putting down.
Kay seemed to insinuate that the Blue Jays were stealing signs to know which pitch was coming — similar to the Houston Astros' cheating ordeal in 2017 and 2018, in which the team used a center field camera to monitor the opposing catcher's signals. In the aftermath of that scandal, MLB reached an agreement with its Players Association to restrict the use of live camera feeds in stadiums.
Statistically, the Jays are hitting far better at home than they are on the road. Heading into Saturday, the Blue Jays hold a .279 average and .756 OPS in Toronto. On the road, they dip to a .193 average and .627 OPS. Toronto is 6-3 at home and 5-6 on the road so far.
But only 20 games into the season, the sample size is small. So unless we start hearing strange banging on trash cans at the Rogers Centre, we can probably pump the brakes on the Blue Jays cheating accusations.