Blue Jays Had Previously Unknown Advantage vs. Yankees in ALDS: Report

The game within the game is going next level across Major League Baseball.

In the years following the Houston Astros scandal, the notion of “stealing” information over pitch selection is sometimes oversimplified and/or classified as cheating. But deciphering a pitcher’s body language for tipping pitches has always been fair game, and in recent seasons, teams have become exceptionally adept at it.

The Toronto Blue Jays, in addition to fielding a very talented roster, are developing a reputation for noticing so-called “tells” at a higher rate than most. So are the division-rival New York Yankees, and those two happened to square off in the American League Division Series in October.

The Blue Jay won that series in four games, scoring at least five runs in each game, including double-digit outputs in Games 1 and 2 at home.

On Thursday, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet reported that the Blue Jays had at least one “tell,” which was unspecified, that gave the Toronto offense a distinct advantage during the Yankees series.

“According to industry sources, the Blue Jays picked up on at least one on-field tell from the Yankees during the ALDS — an observation that helped Blue Jays hitters on the way to a four-game series win,” wrote Nicholson-Smith.

“The sources were not authorized to speak about the matter or share further details about what the Blue Jays saw because the information was sensitive and could impact future games. But this much is already clear: as the Blue Jays and Yankees pushed for the AL East title in September, the teams were eyeing each other closely in search of possible tells.”

The Blue Jays hit .338 as a team with nine home runs in the four-game series. The pitchers could have been signaling to the hitters what pitch was coming and those numbers still would have been impressive, so it’s not as though the outcome was as simple as Toronto having the information edge. Plus, there’s every chance the Yankees had some sort of tell that no one outside the dugout knew about at some point.

Nicholson-Smith also reported that the Los Angeles Dodgers had similar suspicions about the Blue Jays during the World Series, so clearly, Toronto’s reputation for picking up tells within the sport is widespread and well-deserved.

Every minuscule advantage matters during the course of a 162-game season, and those advantages are magnified during the playoffs.

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