With the Aaron Judge cheating allegations behind them, the Blue Jays are now crying foul against another Yankees star.
The New York Yankees–Toronto Blue Jays cheating saga never ends. In this long, drawn-out tale of "he said, he said," the Blue Jays seemingly have an endless supply of bones to pick with their AL East rivals.
Toronto at least appear to have found its wits and have quieted the accusations against Judge for allegedly stealing signals. Instead, the club is turning its attention to a Yankees star who most definitely cheated in the series, pitcher Domingo Germán.
Germán was ejected in the second game of the series after the umpires found evidence of foreign substances on his hand. The Yankees starter played three innings prior to being ejected in which he retired all the nine batters he faced.
Well, Toronto wants those three innings back.
Blue Jays right-hander Kevin Gausman told the Toronto Sun:
"Obviously, the guy over there (German) was cheating, and for three innings, dominated us. We feel like they owe us three innings."
Yankees pitcher Domingo Germán gets lambasted by Blue Jays
As per the rulebook, Germán received a 10-game ban for violating the league's foreign substance policy.
Gausman and the Blue Jays clearly don't think that was a harsh enough punishment and want to build some sort of time machine to go back and replay those three innings — because that's obviously the reason Toronto lost. Not because of Judge's tie-breaking homer in the eighth inning or the Blue Jays' poor relieving rotation. Because Germán used the sticky stuff.
Gausman claims he saw fishy activity from the Yankees starter from the moment he stepped onto the mound:
"You look at some of the swings he was getting there in the first. … He got a swing on a breaking ball from (Vladimir Guerrero Jr.) that was in the other batters box, and you don't see that from Vladdy. Obviously, (German) has had a really good year, but I think all of those things should be in question now.
In Gausman's defense, yes, Germán broke the rules. But he's going to be rightfully punished for doing so, and the entire Blue Jays team would benefit from forcing the rent-free Yankees out of their brains and focusing on improving their form.
Toronto lost three of four in that series. Is that all Germán's fault? Did the Blue Jays suddenly get zapped with kryptonite because Aaron Judge looked the wrong way? Take more accountability for the loss, and let the officials do the officiating.